The Gem Wars
by Cosmic Guardian
Summary: Years after the colors wars ended the game brain burst has spread from Tokyo to Los Angeles while keeping itself a secret from the pubic. However, with a new land comes a new war to fight. The color war may be over but the war of the gemstone is about to begin.
1. Tired of life

Chapter .1

The time was past noon of the last day of school. In an eleventh-grade class a brown-haired and eyed teen looked over his test answers, he glanced to some of the students near him. Some were also looking over their answers and the other already turned theirs in.

As he turned in his work the teen looked over to the desk next to him. There sat a girl with long red hair and light brown eyes that had a bland stare as she typed in the air with her right hand.

The girl looked over to her desk neighbor and smiled. The teen groaned and waved his hand down to close his running programs.

A message appeared is the teens sight, he pressed it as a list of the name of his classmates. He scanned it and found his name.

Vincent Slater: Second.

Vincent spotted the name above his.

Catharine Yaman: First.

Vincent grabbed the sides of his desk and pulled on it, trying to rip it off as he glanced to the girl next to him.

"That's a surprise. Good to see you are taking your studies seriously Catharine." The teacher smiled to the girl as everyone clapped for her.

"Thank you everyone. Thank you." Catharine waved her hand nervously as two other girls sitting near her got up to talk to Catharine.

Vincent grinded his teeth as he stared at the clock in the corner of his vision, watching it for it to hit three.

"Hey better luck next time, right?" One of the girls patted Vincent on the back.

"Don't, touch me…"

"What?"

The bell rang and Vincent shoot up for his deck and ran out the door. As he got into the hall Vincent slowed to a walk and punched the as he reached the stairs. The stairs were packed with students trying to leave for the summer. When it began to clear up he walked down the stairs and went to the gymnasium.

The gymnasium was empty as he headed for the locker room. Opening his Vincent pulled out his fencing practice sword and gear. When Vincent finished putting it on other students poured in.

"Hey Vin. You got here fast."

"Don't call me that! I told you all that repeatedly!" Vincent stormed out of the locker room, shoving students out of the way.

Vincent spent the next few minutes swinging his sword, waiting for the others to get ready. The other students can out of the locker room as the couch came in.

"Okay everyone gathered up." The students gathered around the coach while Vincent hung on the outside of the crowded. "So, summer is here but the doesn't mean we're free. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday we still have practice."

The students signed and groaned. "It's only for a couple hours and you all knew what you were getting into when you took fencing. Now let's get on with some fight, but first the captain for next year. Rikkie!" Everyone cheered and gathered a student with light blond hair.

"What!" As the others separated Vincent went to the coach. "Coach, can I talk to you?"

"Vincent- "

"I'm the best on the team. I beat everyone here, Parker several times. I was the one who got up to the championships. Why am I not the captain?"

"Vincent. You're a good fencer, you keep it up and you'll go far. However, a captain is not the strongest or the smartest but someone who can use the talents of their teammates. You're not really a people person Vin."

Vincent tightened his fists as he went to the other students while putting on his protective mask. His opponent stood before him and they both held up their swords. The fencer came at Vincent with a stab for the chest.

Vincent waved his sword over his shoulder and swung hard to knock the sword out of his opponent's hand then thrusted his blade into their mask. The student fell back and tried to pull off his mask, other students went to help while Vincent throw his sword down and walked to the benches.

As he sat down he saw a girl with long dark hair on the high seats watching him. She looked away as he looked at her.

After practice Vincent changed into his street clothes and was on his way out of the school grounds when spotted three girls by the gates, one of them was Catharine.

Catharine pointed to her friends as she stepped back and walked to Vincent. "Hello Vin."

Vincent went to walk around but Catharine. "Get out of my way."

"Is that how you talk to a lady?" Catharine smiled as she ran her hand through her hair.

Vincent took a step forward. "You don't study, you party every weekend, you sleep in class, and yet, and yet! You got top marks in class? How?"

"You ever think I'm just that smart?"

"No one is that smart. Now get out of my way."

Vincent stepped aside to get around Catharine who stood in his way again. "Now hold on. I have a question. What are your plans for the summer?"

"None of your business."

"So, nothing. Well I have something that'll change your life." Catharine dug into her satchel and pulled out a cord. "Plug this into your neuro-link." Vincent just glared at Catharine. "What's wrong? Never connected with a girl before?" Catharine asked with a grin.

Vincent grabbed an end of the cord and connected it to his neuro-link with his eyes leaving Catharine's as she connected the other end into her own. _"So, what do you want?"_

Catharine waved her finger as she worked on her interface. _"Relax, it'll be worth the wait."_ A progress bar appeared in Vincent's view, as it slowly filling up Vincent searched his setting to see if anything was changing or being taken away when he saw a program titled 'Brian Burst'.

When the program finally finished a massage appear in its place. **"Welcome to brain burst!"** Vincent pulled the cord out of his neuro-link. "So, what is this?"

"You know that coffee place everyone goes too?"

"No. I don't drink coffee."

Catharine rolled her eyes. "Then meet me here tomorrow and I'll tell you everything about it. For now, have a good sleep and turn off your linker when you walk here, okay?" Vincent just walked away.

…

Vincent walked down the street, he pasted an apartment building. People gathered around, trying to get into an elevator. Vincent looked to the empty stairs and stopped. "Hey! You all know the stairs is open, right?"

The people started to yell at Vincent to mine his own business as he walked away. "Lazy bastards." Vincent started searching the internet as he walked when some aids came up, so many that they blocked his sight.

"Parasites!" Vincent shut off his neuro-linker. "This damn world could burst into flames and all I'd say is 'about time'." Vincent arrived at his house, when he opened the door and stepped inside a girl with a ponytail of brown hair and brown eyes jumped at Vincent and hugged him. "Hey Elizabeth. How was school?"

"Great bro! I got top of my grade!" Elizabeth let go of Vincent. "Really Vincent. Thank you for helping all month. I never would have gotten it without your help!"

"That's great, just great." Vincent smiled as he spoke through clinched teeth.

"Mom! Vincent's home!" Elizabeth dragged Vincent into the living room where their parents were working. When their son came in the two waved their hands to clear their view.

"Hello hun." Their mother stood up to greet them. "How was school?"

"How did you do on the final test? Get the top again?" Asked their father.

"Yeah. Top of my class, and made captain of the fencing team for when school starts again."

"Please don't remind me." Elizabeth groaned.

"It's something we all have to go back to sis."

"For me maybe. You only have one year left. I have to start high school."

"You'll me fine Liz. Your brother made it this far so I know you'll make it." Elizabeth and her father laughed.

Vincent grinded his teeth lightly. "I'm ah, I'll be in my room for a bit call me when dinner's ready." Vincent entered his room and fell on his bed. The room had an old-fashioned style to it, there were two shelfs filled with old books, a desk with a computer connected to two monitors. In the corner was a bag with practice swords next to a closet with clothes.

Vincent closed his eyes then dived into the house net to enter his private space. The space was a blank white with endless manikins with a rack of weapons.

Vincent grabbed a battle axe and began cutting down manikins. When he knocked down the fourth one Vincent looked over the sea of endless manikins. He dropped the axe and disconnected. Back in the real-world Vincent sat and slammed his fist into his pillow.

"I still don't feel any better."

"Vin!" Shouted his mother from behind the door. "Dinner's almost done, come help your sister set up."

Vincent signed and got up to leave.

! #$%^&*()_+}{"?

So, a new story. This time in am anime, not a game! Let's see where this goes. Please review it keeps us writers going, and I need it more than ever. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	2. Welcome to the fight

Chapter .2

After dinner Vincent went straight to bed, after he fell asleep Vincent awoke to find himself tied to pole on top of a pyre. Looking around he saw people from his school, his fencing team and his own family laying siege to a castle.

"You always thought you were the best, you didn't make captain, you're nothing no matter how hard you try!" The fencing team sneered as the castle walls were crumbling.

"You're just a disappointment." Vincent's mother lit a touch, handing it to Elizabeth. "Why couldn't you be like your sister, a child I'm proud of."

Next to the pyre Catherine grinned at Vincent. "I'll always be better then you." Catherine held up her touch. "Come! Let's burn this failure!"

"You bastards." Vincent's body was shaking, he raised his head to look at everyone. "I did everything to please you parasites! I'm the best fencer but I was still denied. Elizabeth wouldn't have gotten anything if I wasn't there to hold her hand! And you..." Vincent glared at Catherine. "I know you cheated some how and I will find out how!"

Vincent took a deep breath before he continued. "You're all parasites! Lazy, greedy, glutton, parasites! I'll burn this world down then you'll see who you're fucking with!" The mob set the pyre on fire as everything faded to black.

...

Vincent shot up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. He raised his hand to his head, trying to remember what the dream was. Vincent got up to get dressed, putting on a tan shirt and jeans with brown boots. As Vincent finished he remembered his meeting with Catherine. Vincent had half a mind to just not go but with this new program on his linker he needed to know.

Going down stairs he grabbed two peaches and left. Stepping outside Vincent ate one of the peaches as he walked down the street. Half way to his school Vincent stopped as flames appeared his front of him forming into words to spell out a sentence.

 **Here comes a new challenger!**

The world broke apart around Vincent and reshaped into a empty desert. Vincent felt his body change as well. Looking down he saw his body was covered in purple armor with a sword at his side, a cape of a darker purple on his back, and a mounted cannon on his right arm. "What? At the top of his field of view was a timer ticking down with a blue gauge on both sides under the gauges were a name. Under the right it read Aero Spear-man. On the left it read Eminence Tyrant.

"Hello there!" A person in light blue armor with a spear ran towards Vincent. "Judging by how you're looking around, this is your first fight?" The blue armored spear-man held out their hand.

Vincent nods and reaches out to shack his hand when the person plunges his spear into Vincent's chest. The blue gauge on the left went down by a third. "Purple avatars really can't take a hit." The opponent laughed. "First rule pal. Don't trust your opponent Rookie!" Vincent grabbed the person's wrist over the spear and squeezed. "Hey let go!" They tried to punch but Vincent caught their fist.

"There are two types of people that I hate. Bullies and cheaters." Vincent squeezes ever harder. "And from what you've just done. You're both."

The blue armored person let go of the spear from the pain and Vincent punched them in the face plate as they fell down Vincent pulled the spear out of him and ran it though the downed person's hand as he stomped on their other arm. He kneels down and punches them into face repeatedly.

The Aero Spear-man kicked Vincent in the back to get him off then try to pull the spear out of their hand. Vincent planted his foot on his opponent's back and grabbed on to the sides of their head, trying to to pulling it off.

"Stop, stop! Please no!" Vincent ignored them and ripped their head clean off to see their blue gauge empty.

"Next time, play fair. Dick." Vincent threw the head down and a message appeared in front of him.

 **Burst Points 99 - 119.**

The world broke down again and returned to normal. Vincent looked around to find that everything was as it was before it changed. Vincent ran to the school, hoping Catherine would have answers.

...

Standing outside the school Catherine waited for almost ten minutes when she saw Vincent run towards her. "There you are! It's not nice to keep a lady waiting."

"What is this thing you gave me?"

Catherine placed her hands on her hips as she grinned. "So you had a fight on the way here, did you? I told you to turn off your linker off." Catherine patted Vincent on the cheek. "Well getting your ass kicked should teach you."

"I won."

"What?!"

"Now, tell me what this is."

"Alright. Burst link!" The world broke down again and reconstructed itself into a prehistoric forest. Vincent was back in his purple armor. "Eminence Tyrant, very interesting." Standing before Vincent Catherine was in a teal armor with daggers around her waist.

Vincent saw her name under the right blue gauge. "Teal Assassin?"

"That's my avatar name. Welcome to Brain Burst!"

"What is this?"

"Brain Burst is a fighting game as you must know now."

"A fighting game, so what are we fighting for?"

"Burst points, or BP which we use to accelerate." Vincent just tilted his head. "Brain Burst is more then just a fighting game. It's a program that allows users to "accelerate" their brain waves to make time appear to stand still. The times a person can accelerate depend on the number of Burst Points you have. When a Burst Linker, us, accelerates for the first time, they start with a total of 99 BP. Each time the Burst Linker accelerates, they use 1 Point. However, there are other abilities that are obtained by the Burst Linker as they level up their Duel Avatar with each of the abilities varying in cost. Burst Points are mainly earned by fighting and defeating other Burst Linkers in the program's online multiplayer fighting game, You see where I'm going with this?"

"By speeding up our thoughts we can slow the world around us and plan out what the best course of action would be."

"Now you get it! By winning fights you gain more points. With this power you can ace tests, win bets, or even be a better fencer in your case."

"In other words, cheat."

Catherine laughed lightly. "If you wish to call it that then yes, you can cheat your way to the top with this power. Think about it, you now have an easy button for life, and all you have to do is fight in this world. Now doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Vincent stepped closer to Catherine, pointing at her. "I knew you cheated!"

Catherine just wave her hand. "Yeah, yeah. I cheated, so what? And you now what? It was you I cheated off of." Vincent clinched his fists. "Oh don't be like that."

"Why did you give this game to me?"

"I, or we need your help."

"We?"

"There's a war going on and we need fighters. Burst Linkers can join groups to fight of territory."

"You mean like a clan?"

"We can them legions but same thing."

"Why should I help you?"

"It's for you're own good as well. When a Linker is with a legion they can deny a fight when they're in their territory. Without a legion you'll be attacked over and over, it'll wear you down and as you keep losing you'll lose you're BP. With all your BP gone, Brain Burst will uninstall forever with all of your memories of it."

"I don't see a down side then. I didn't ask for any of this."

"Did you just forget what I said! An easy button for the real world!"

"So I can end up like you? No. Keep your easy button, I'm not so weak that I need that." Vincent turned to walk away.

"But don't you want to know who you are?!"

Vincent stopped and turned back to Catherine. "What?"

"You had a nightmare, right? That was Brain Burst reading your fears, insecurities, and desires to create your avatar. Purple avatars tend to be more... complex. Besides, isn't your life boring? Trying to climb a ladder that the world itself is trying to keep you down?" Vincent fully spun to face Catherine and took a few steps towards her. "When the timer is done you'll have two choices. You can get rid of the game and forget all about it, returning to your normal life. Or you can stay and see how far you can go. Maybe you'll last a week, maybe a month or so. Maybe you'll me great and take down a legion or two. Hell, shoot for the stars and maybe you'll start you're own legion!"

"Fine. I'll fight, but I fight for me. Not for you, not for some legion, not for anyone."

Catherine nods. "As long as you fight. Now, drew your sword! We need to know what your avatar can do!"

! #$%^&*()_+}"?{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out!


	3. Joining a Legion

Chapter .3

"So red avatars fight long range, their desire is for wanting to reach some goal. You listening?" Catherine and Vincent walked down through the city as she explained Brain Burst.

"Yes."

"Then what have I said?"

"Red fight long range, blue fight close range, green have defense, yellow use tricks, and purple have long and close range but poor defense. I got it."

"Good, you catch on fast. You'll need that if you want to survive."

Vincent stopped as the two got deeper into the city. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise Vinny!"

"I don't like surprises, and don't call me that."

Catherine stopped as well and stood in front of Vincent. She leaned close and raised her hand to the side of Vincent's face. "Come now, It's normal for a parent to have nicknames for her child."

Vincent swatted Catherine's hand away. "I'm not your child, now tell me where we're going or I'm going home."

Catherine stepped back and shrugged. "Fine, but without my help you'll be attacked where ever you go."

"And you need my help in some war."

Catherine let out a sigh. "We're going to the Opal legion HQ. It's in the downtown library." Catherine took a hold of Vincent's hand to pull him along, to which he pulled away but fallowed her.

The two arrived at the library, as Vincent went in he saw a girl with long dark hair walk out. She stopped to look up at Vincent with heterochromic eyes, the right eye was purple and the left was pale green. The two looked at each other for a moment then the girl quickly walked away as Vincent watched her. _"That girl from fencing class."_

"What are you looking at?" Asked Catherine.

"Nothing."

Catherine crossed her arms and grinned. "Can't be nothing if it caught YOUR attention."

"Then it's none of your business." Vincent brushed pasted her to go inside.

In the library Catherine lead the way to a private room. "Okay link in to the network. Oh, and I'm setting my linker to wake me if someone gets near me."

"Why are you telling me that?" Vincent took a seat across from Catherine.

"Well we are alone. Who knows what you'll try to do to me." Catherine crossed her arms over her body, grinning as her body shook.

"Are you going to show me this legion or not?"

Catherine sighed. "At least give a girl some excitement." The two linked into the library network. Inside the two stood in a hall with seemingly endless bookshelves. "That's your virtual self?" Catherine looked over Vincent who looked just like his real world self.

Vincent spun around to see Catherine in a dark red evening dress with a matching butterfly mask. "You could remake yourself in this world and you choose not to?"

"And do what, add animal parts? change my hair color? No thank you."

Catherine shrugged and waved her hand for Vincent to follow. Going down the hall Catherine waved her hand to bring up a menu. she typed on the screen and a book appeared before them, Catherine opened the book and a bright light blinded them.

When the light faded they were on a bridge leading to a sliver palace in the center of a lake. "Where are we?"

Catherine pointed towards the palace. "That's the opal HQ, where the opal legion comes to hang out, get info, meet other members. It's here to keep hidden for the other legions."

Vincent began walking towards the palace. When her reached the door Vincent kicked it hard but the door remained shut.

"Violence won't let you in." Catherine touched the door and a keypad appear, she typed on it and the doors opened.

Inside the two were in a large lobby with countless people moving about. "This is the common area, where other members of the legion can meet up." Catherine pointed to a glass elevator in the center of the lobby. "We'll take that to the planning room. Where we'll introduce you to the leader." They enter the elevator as it takes them up. "Now follow my lead and act nice."

"Whatever."

"I mean it Vincent! This is important!" Catherine looked at him with grave seriousness. The elevator doors opened to let them into a dark room lit by a large map of the city, parts of it in different colors as four people circled around it.

As they stepped in a pale woman wearing a long sliver coat over a shirt, dress pants and shoes of the same color turned to them. "Teal." The woman spoke with a welcoming tone but held a hint of authority.

Catherine kneeled down as the woman approached them. "Vincent!" Catherine panics as Vincent was still standing.

"I bow to no one."

The woman stood before Vincent and looked him over. "So this is what you brought me Teal?"

"And you are?"

"I'm the leader of the opal legion, Opal Commander. And you are?"

"Vincent. Eminence Tyrant."

"Why do you seek to join-"

"Can we cut the crap? Catherine here says you need people for some war. I need to join a legion so people don't attack me all day long."

"How about you show some respect!" One of the others around the map spoke up. He wore a deep blue knight's armor with a battle ax on his back.

Vincent spun towards the knight. "And you are?"

"Byzantine Crusher, and I challenge you!" The knight waved his hand to open a menu, he turned to the opal leader who nods. Seeing a list of names he picked Vincent's.

The world around Vincent broke apart then reformed itself as machinery while his body was encased in his armor. Before him a large blue knight with a huge hammer resting on his shoulder. "Now then, Eminence Tyrant. I-"

Vincent held out his right arm and rapidly fired white beams light as he ran towards his enemy, as his special gauge filled Vincent drew his sword and raised it overhead as he jumped at the blue knight. "Royal Cut!" Vincent's sword glowed bright orange as he brought the sword down on the crusher, severing his arm and taking a fourth of his health.

The knight stepped back and struke Vincent with his hammer, sending him flying away and taking two thirds of his health. "Cretin! You have no honor! Attacking an opponent before a duel begins!"

Vincent pushed himself up, dropping his sword to place the hand on his chest. Vincent raised his right arm, shaking as he opened fire. Byzantine Crusher charged to Vincent as most of the shots missed him.

When the blue avatar was close he raised his hammer and swung it straight down. Vincent sidestepped the hammer and punched Byzantine in the chest. Byzantine Crusher laughed as his health didn't even flinch. "That you're best shot?"

"This is." Energy gathered in Vincent's blaster. "Charge Shot!" The blaster fired a beam of orange light that pierced through the crusher's chest launching him away, landing on his back and taking his health to twenty percent.

Vincent went for his sword but saw the hammer, he picked it up and stood over Byzantine Crusher. "Let me give you a little tip. A fight is about who's left standing in the end. Nothing more." Vincent raised the hammer and crushed his opponent's head.

 **BP 119 - 149**

The world shifted back to the palace planning room as Vincent's armor was removed. "Bastard!" the knight reeled his arm back when the opal leader grabbed his arm.

"That's enough Byzantine. Return to your duties." The knight reluctantly bows, he glares at Vincent for a moment then returned to the table. The leader turned to Vincent. "Impressive. You're a level one but you took down a level three."

Vincent stepped back and crossed his arms. "This mean I'm in?"

The leader waved her hand open a menu, after hitting a few buttons a message appeared in front of Vincent, offering to let him join the opal legion. Vincent pressed yes.

"Welcome to the legion."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. till next time CG out. PEACE!


	4. The guantlet

Chapter .4

Vincent and Catherine rode the lift back down to lobby, when the door opened Catherine stepped out as she rubbed her head. "Well, that could have gone better." She saw Vincent walking towards the entrance. Catherine grabbed Vincent's arm. "You can't go yet."

Vincent pulled his arm away. "I can go wherever I want."

"Just fallow me." Catherine opened a menu and a door appeared. She opened the door to go in but Vincent stepped in before her. Inside we a plain room with a large round table in the center. "Time to explain the situation." Catherine opened the menu again to make a sofa appear. "Come over here." Catherine takes a seat and pats the seat next to her.

Vincent opened his own menu and summon a chair on the other side of the table. "Let's get this over with."

Catherine shakes her head as she lowers the lights and the same map from the war room appear on the table. "This is where we stand. The opal legion is a medium sized one at war with two others, the amber and sapphire. Amber is only a few months old and has grown fast with sapphire's help, and now they've turned to fight us."

Vincent looked over the map. "What about the others?"

"The larger legions are emerald, topaz, and ruby, ruby being the biggest. Emerald has been fighting topaz for a while and winning, until ruby stepped in to help topaz, why we still don't know."

Among the colors Vincent spotted a small area in purple then pointed to it. "What about that one?"

"That's amethyst. A small nothing."

"If it's nothing, why not take it?"

"Sapphire tried but were beaten back. Opal tried but were beaten back. So both have decided to just leave it till the other is gone and have more territory."

Vincent leaned back in his seat. "So what's plan?"

"Every Saturday is when the territory fights happen. They can be one vs one, two on two, or three on three. The side with the most points gets the territory."

"Points, not wins?"

Catherine tilts her head and grins. "You get more points from being higher level players and less from lower. As from you last fight."

"When do we start?"

Catherine checks her clock. "In a few minutes." Catherine waited for Vincent to speak but nothing happened. "Any questions?"

"Do I keep the points I get?"

"Already have plans for your points?" Catherine wear a devilish smile.

"Just want to know if I get anything for this." Vincent stood up and left the room. Outside everyone was gathering into groups, disguising battle plans and team pair ups. A message appeared before Vincent, asking if how he wanted to participate. Vincent pressed the single battle option and waited.

The world broke down and reshaped into one in the middle of being built. Vincent checked his settings to see the stage's name. "Construction Stage." Vincent closed the settings and drew his sword.

On one of the building a red avatar with a rocket launcher. They fired their weapon and Vincent dove forward and ran to the building the avatar. using his sword and blaster Vincent broke each of the support rods until the building started to collapse and ran out from under it, watching his special gauge fill up. When it was nothing but rubble the avatar's health dropped to half, the avatar climbed out of the rubble and Vincent used his charge shot to finish them.

 **BP 149 - 159**

A message appeared before Vincent, asking if he wanted to keep fighting, Vincent pressed yes. Before Vincent appeared a blue avatar with dual swords.

"You ready to do this?" the avatar held out one his their swords.

Vincent raised his arm and fired his blaster, the avatar dashed towards Vincent with their swords crossed to block some of the lasers but was still getting hit. When they got close the avatar leaped into the air and raised their swords over head. As the blades came down Vincent side stepped the the swords and ran his own through the avatar's head. Vincent pulled his sword out then swung to decapitate them.

 **BP 159 - 169**

Another massage appeared and Vincent hit yes again. A green armadillo-like avatar appear. Vincent fired his blaster but his shots weren't hurting it. The avatar curled up and rolled at Vincent. Vincent jumped to dodge but the avatar turned and struke him, taking a fifth of Vincent's health.

As the avatar rolled away Vincent stood up and shot at more buildings to build up his special gauge. The avatar turned to Vincent and rolled at him again. "Charge Shot!" Vincent fired at the avatar, his attack slowed it down but it's health was going down to slowly.

Vincent's blaster overheated and the green avatar rolled into him. The attack wasn't as strong but still took a chunk of Vincent's health. Getting back up Vincent ran to another building, cutting and blasting the support rods to refill his gauge as the avatar followed him. Before the building fully collapsed Vincent ran out from under it while his opponent was still under it.

The building fell apart but the avatar's health only went down a small bit. The avatar bursts out from the rubble and rolled towards Vincent. Vincent holds his sword out with both hands and exhales slowly. "One shot. Royal Cut!" Vincent raised his sword as it glowed then brought it straight down on the avatar. The enemy kept rolling into the blade, only taking minor damage as Vincent was pushed back.

Vincent pressed as hard as he could on his sword as he was sliding back, he looked over his shoulder to see he was going to crash into a cement wall. Vincent turned back to his sword as his gauge was going down. "Come on break! Break, break, break break, break! FUCKING BREAKING!" Fulled by rage Vincent pushed his feet into the ground, the two started to slow as sparks flew off his sword as it sank into the avatar until he cut them in half.

 **BP 169 - 179**

Vincent was breathing hard and his head was hurting. The massage appeared again and Vincent hit yes.

Another red avatar appear, this one held dual pistols. Vincent ran at them while firing his blaster, red avatar fired their pistols but was backing away. Vincent was hitting the avatar but most of his shots were missing. The red avatar shots were more accurate, hitting Vincent with almost every bullet. Vincent saw his health dropping fasted then the avatar's and knew his couldn't win this way.

Vincent ran towards another building, this time using it for cover and to get to higher ground. The red avatar put away their pistols and hurled two grenades to bring the building down. Vincent leaped out from one of the windows swinging his his sword to cut the avatar in half.

 **BP 179 - 189**

The messaged appear and Vincent punched the yes option then held out his blaster for whoever challenged him. As another blue avatar appeared, this one with its right arm three times bigger then their left. Vincent fired his blaster while the blue avatar held up their big arm to act as a shield and rushed Vincent. When they got close Vincent swung his sword but the avatar caught it with their left hand then punched Vincent with a larger right.

Vincent was sent flying back as half his health disappeared. "Nice blade." The avatar held the sword with both hands, trying to snap it. Vincent held out his right, aiming at the avatar. "Charge Shot!" Vincent put everything he had in his special gauge into the attack, a beam of orange light struke the avatar. The opponent threw down the sword and ran to Vincent.

Vincent stood up and ran to meet the avatar. The blue avatar swung they large arm and Vincent slid under the attack to get behind them and kept running until he got his sword back then waited. The avatar chased Vincent and tried again with another punch. Vincent ducked under the attack and again behind them, this time Vincent swung his blade to cut off their large arm then head.

 **BP 189 - 199**

Vincent dropped to one knee, his breathing was getting worse as his head was spinning. The massage appeared again and Vincent reached up to press yes. "One more, then I'm done. I'm not gonna carry this legion." Vincent pushed himself up to his feet as a yellow avatar appeared.

The yellow avatar tilted their head, looking at Vincent. "Well you look like hell."

Vincent fired his blaster but his shots were missing. The yellow avatar threw down a smoke bomb to hide. Bombs flew out from the smoke and landed around Vincent, engulfing him in a large cloud. Vincent held up his sword, continuously spinning around as he watched for any movement. Vincent's head was hurting from the constant movement, Vincent placed his hand to the side of his head and felt a blade pierced his back.

Vincent dropped to one knee then turned as he swung his sword around, only hitting smoke. Vincent stood up and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and he listened. He heard footsteps behind him, the footsteps were getting closer, Vincent spun around and swung his sword. The smoke started to fade and Vincent saw his enemy cut in half but still had health. Vincent held out his blaster and fired until their health was gone.

 **BP 199 - 209**

Vincent fell back to lay on the ground, the massage again appeared and this time Vincent pressed no.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	5. Amber's leader

Chapter.5

Vincent awoke in the real world and felt all of his battle wounds at once, he fell to the floor holding his sides. Catherine awoke as well, see stood up to see Vincent. "Not feeling well?" Catherine kneeled down and placed her hand on Vincent's cheek. "You're feeling the phantom pain right now. If it hurt this much you must've gotten your ass kick hard!"

Vincent gritted his teeth and shoved her hand away. Vincent tried to push himself but fell from the pain. "Look Vin, this tough guy act won't get you much help. Now before you tell me, 'I don't need your help.' how about you say that when you can stand up." Catherine pulled Vincent's arm over her shoulders and lifted him up. "So how badly did you lose?"

"I didn't."

"So you chose to quit." Catherine opened the door and help Vincent walk out. "Then how many did you beat?"

"Six."

"That many?" Catherine smiled proudly. "I knew I pick a good one. Want to know how many I beat?"

"No."

Catherine sighed. "You're no fun. How do you plan to get a girlfriend like this?" Vincent kept quiet as they left the library. Outside Vincent pulled his arm away to stand on his own. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." Vincent took a few steps but could just barely stand.

"Yeah, I can see that. Come on, let's go get some lunch." Catherine grabbed Vincent's arm but he pulled it way, causing him to fall. Catherine placed her hands on her hips. "Are you always going to be like this?"

Catherine lead Vincent to a small restaurant a few blocks away from the library. Inside Catherine ordered sandwiches and water, taking them to Vincent. "Feeling better?" Vincent continued to stare out the window. Catherine waved her hand to open systems, after away she found the statistics from the fight for territory. "You're first day and already had quite the impact for the opal legion."

Vincent kept quiet and started eating his sandwich, Catherine sighed then drank some water. When Vincent was half finished with his food he glanced to Catherine who was busy typing. A few seconds later she finished then closed everything.

"Did I tell you about the leaders of the legions?"

"No."

"Okay then." The world broke apart around Vincent as brain burst started up.

Vincent stood in a world made of ice, He drew his sword to spot an orange avatar, armed with several bombs and a grenade launcher for their right hand. Vincent checked the avatar's name. Amber Demolition.

"So you're the new guy for opal?"

Vincent fired his blaster at the avatar as he rushed them. Amber pulled a bomb off their belt and threw it down to create a smoke cloud. Vincent stepped back with his blaster pointed at the cloud.

A grenade flew out of the smoke and fell towards Vincent. When it did the ground the grenade exploded, throwing Vincent back. Vincent pushed himself and saw his legs were blown off.

Another grenade flew out of the smoke. "Charge Shot!" Vincent held out his arm and fired a large beam to destroy the grenade.

As the smoke faded Amber Demolition slowly walked towards Vincent. Vincent held out his arm, pointing his blaster at his enemy. "That all you got?"

Vincent kept an eye on his blaster's cooldown. "Let's see you do six fights in a row and still be able to fight."

"Try ten." Amber fired another grenade.

Vincent drew his sword and hurled it at the grenade. The sword missed and Vincent held out his left hand to catch the grenade which exploded on impact and blew away his arm. Vincent fired his blaster as Amber threw down another smoke bomb. Vincent fired into the smoke until his blaster overheated again but Amber Demolition's health didn't take a hit.

Vincent lead on the ground as Amber walked out of the smoke and aimed his weapon at Vincent's head. "Honestly, I expected more."

"Do it." Amber Demolition fired and destroyed Vincent.

Vincent was pulled back to the real world and all of his pain had returned. "You okay?" Asked Catherine.

"What was that? You said I can refuse fights!"

"Only if we're in our legion's zone."

Vincent pulled up brain burst and checked the map. He was in the amber legion's area. "You brought me here?!"

"Oops." Catherine covered her grin.

The world fell apart as Vincent entered brain burst once more. His body was sore and jolts of pan rush through his limbs when he moved. A blue avatar armed with a halberd charged Vincent, who drew his sword and swung it to deflect the halberd. Vincent's arms grew weak and dropped it do to the pain. The avatar's halberd came down on Vincent's head splitting it in two.

Vincent was pulled back into the real world, his headache had gotten worse.

"Lost another one?" Asked Catherine.

Vincent stood up and ran out the door. His body was aching, causing him to slow down. Vincent kept his map up to know when he was safely back in the opal legion. He was almost there when he was pulled back into the bairn burst. Vincent fell to his knees, his vision was blurred, all he saw was something red fallowed by a bang and a bullet through his chest.

Vincent fell to the ground as his body refusing to move. The red avatar stood over Vincent and pressed their gun to the the tyrant's head before pulling the trigger.

Returning to the real world Vincent fell to the ground, the pain was starting to make him feel sick. Vincent pushed himself back up and ran a few feet before he legs gave out and he fell again. Looking at his map Vincent was back in his legion. Vincent crawled to a the side of a building and laid against it as he waited for everything to stop spinning, his pain had subsided and Vincent stood up and slowly made his way home, needing to take several stops to rest from headaches.

It was past noon when Vincent returned home, he opened the door and was greeted Elizabeth. "Hey bro!"

"Not now Liz, I have a bad headache." Vincent went to the bathroom to get some medicine.

"So how was your day?"

"Painful." Vincent swallowed the pills with some water. "Catherine wanted to meet." Thinking about Catherine was getting Vincnet angry which was making his headache worse.

"Catherine? you're seeing someone?!"

Vincent slammed his fists on the sink and spun to Elizabeth. "No! I'm going to bed." Vincent went up the stairs and to his room, laying on his bed Vincent opened brain burst and found a history of opponents he fought. "Tomorrow." He closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of revenge.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	6. Revenge

Chapter. 6

A red avatar fell to the ground and started crawling away to get to his dropped rifle. Vincent stood over the avatar and impaled his sword through their back, With his blaster pointed at the avatar's head Vincent looked to the watching crowd. "Are you there Amber?! I challenge you to a rematch! This time you won't be so lucky!"

Vincent fired a laser bolt into the avatar's head. "Fight me or this will keep happening to your whole legion! Charged Shot!" Vincent fired a large beam into the avatar, vaporizing their top half.

The world shifted back to normal as Vincent stood on the edge of the amber legion territory with brain burst open, looking for the next target he lost to.

Vincent stepped back to renter the opal territory, He took a seat at a nearby bench and opened his bag, pulling out a bottle of water. He opened brain burst to check his list of targets. "They'll all pay." Vincent drank half of the bottle and put it back in the bag.

Vincent stepped back into the amber legion's zone and was challenged. The changed to an ice field, a blue avatar appear before Vincent who opened fire. The blue avatar rushed towards Vincent with their arms up to block the incoming lasers.

Once the avatar got close it pulled its arm back for a punch. Vincent ducked under the attack and drew his sword to slash across their chest. The avatar staggered back and Vincent slashed them again, fallowed with a stab to the heart.

The world returned to normal for a second before it changed again to an empty plain, a green avatar stood in front of Vincent. Vincent held up his blaster while the avatar held up it two shields on its wrists.

Vincent took a few shots at the shield to no effect, he waits for the avatar to do something but it only stood there. Vincent walked towards the enemy while shooting, each shot did nothing. Vincent slowed down as he was getting closer.

When he was close enough the avatar lowered his shields and swung at him. The avatar struke Vincent in the head with one of its shield to knock him down. On the ground Vincent drew his sword to block the avatar's second attack.

Seeing his special gauge was a quarter full and pointed his blaster at the avatar's legs. "Charge shot!" The beam burned the avatar's legs, causing them to jump out of the way. Vincent got back on his feet then swung his blade at the avatar's legs, cutting one off.

As they fell the avatar struke Vincent in the chest to knock him down as well. They raised their arm to punch Vincent who blocked with his blaster, with the shield out of the way Vincent plunged his sword into the avatar's neck.

The world was back to normal and Vincent stepped back to leave the amber zone. _"How long will you make me wait Amber? You scared of me?"_ Vincent stepped back into the amber legion's territory and waited.

Brain burst changed the world to a graveyard in the dead of midnight. Vincent spotted his enemy's name and grinned. "There you are."

"You wanted me? Here I am!" Amber demolition held out his arms. "You that hard up for another ass kicking?" Vincent raised his blaster and opened fire. Amber demolition barely moved as almost all of the lasers missed.

Amber held out his grenade launcher and and shot it into the air. As it came down Vincent dove forward and rolled to evade the explosion. Vincent rushed to Amber as he drew his sword.

Amber threw down a smoke bomb to hide, Vincent ran into the smoke and swung his blade to hit nothing. Vincent heard a foot step and ducked as Amber's grenade launcher waved over him. Vincent lunged his sword forward, he heard a scream then pushed his blade to leave the smoke.

On the end of his sword was Amber demolition. "Got you prick." Vincent pulled his sword out of Amber and swung to behead them. Amber ducked and held their launcher to Vincent's chest, the tyrant leaped to his right to dodge the grenade.

Amber demolition Held their wound. "Not bad." Amber grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it down. "But can you do it twice?"

"Charge Shot!" Vincent waved his blaster, letting the beam sweep through the smoke. Seeing their health take a hit Amber demolition backed out of the smoke and shot more grenades through the smoke until they need to reload. When the smoke began to clear. Amber held out their launcher but didn't see Vincent, they slowly walked through the graveyard, checking behind every tombstone for him.

After checking a row of stones Amber heard a stick snap. They held up their launcher and walked towards the noise When they reached the next row a blade rose up and sliced off Amber"s launchers.

Vincent grabbed Amber by the head and slammed it into a tombstone, then again to shatter the stone. With Amber on the ground Vincent thrusted his sword into their back, with Amber demolition pinned Vincent grabbed a large rock and bashed his enemy in the head. He raised the rock and looked to the burst linkers watching. "See this! This is want awaits all who think they can best me!" Vincent smashed the rock in Amber's head until their health was gone.

When the world returned to normal Vincent stepped back in opal territory, he checked his list and felt satisfaction with his revenge. Vincent stepped back into Amber territory and was challenged again.

Standing in a canyon Vincent was peppered with bullets by a red avatar with dual SMGs. Vincent dove behind cover but lost half his health, He stood from cover and fired his blaster as the red avatar fired as well. After the exchange Vincent had lost more health as the avatar didn't take a hit.

"What's up tough guy? You gonna bash my head in?" The avatar fired at Vincent's cover.

Vincent kept low as the bullets flew over head. When it stopped heard the avatar reload, he stood up and fired more lasers and hid again. He checked the health and saw the avatar wasn't hit. "Come on, damn it. Hit the fucker!" Vincent stood up again and fired but was hit with more bullets, ducking just before he lost the last bit of his health. His body was hurting as blood seeped from the holes in his armor.

Vincent took a few breathes to regain some strength. He drew his sword and held his fist to his head. "I can do this, I can do this. Right now move, move!" Vincent rolled out of his cover and pointed his blaster at the avatar. Charged Shot!" As the large beam lashed out it burned the red avatar's bullets as he rushed up to his opponent.

The wounds caught up to Vincent and caused him to drop to his knees. He beam died down and revealed the red avatar was down as well. Vincent took a deep breath, he gripped his sword tightly then stood up to finish the fight.

The red avatar drew a pistol and shot Vincent in the head.

Back in he real world Vincent staggered back into the opal territory with his hands on his forehead. "Bastard..." Vincent lowered his hands then put them back as he's head was throbbing. "Next time bastards."

Vincent took some medicine then turned on his gps to lead himself home.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?{:

Please review, it keeps us writers going.

Also I'm about to have a lot of free time which means more time to write. I'll be putting up a poll so everyone can tell me what to focus on.

Thank you all for taking the time to read what I write. See you in the next chapter.


	7. Temptation

Chapter. 7

It was still early in the day when Vincent returned home. He opened the door and spotted his sister coming towards him. "Hey Vin."

"What's up sis?"

"Heading to the mall to look at a jewelry set I want."

"Okay then." Vincent stepped aside to let Elizabeth walk past. Looking into the empty house Vincent sighed and turned back as closed the door. "Hey Liz wait up!"

"What?"

"I got nothing to do today so I'll go too."

"Okay!" The siblings walked to the bus stop. "So what brought this on? You never want to go anywhere with me."

"I feel like it right now. That's all."

"Alright then." The siblings walked down the street to a bus stop. After a few minutes their bus arrived, the two waited for its passengers to get off before they climbed in.

They took a seat and the bus was on its way. Vincent looked out the window, in his view Elizabeth was waving her hand. "What are you looking at?"

"Massaging the store to keep the set for me till I get there."

"Oh..." Vincent sat in silence as the bus rolled along. He tapped on his knees for a moment before turning back to his sister. "So... How's your... How's life going for you?"

"It's fine. Gong to go meet some friends after I buy this jewelry set."

"I see... So how are you and your friends doing?"

Elizabeth talked about her friends and interests for the of the bus ride while Vincent silently listened.

...

The bus finally came to a stop in front of a shopping mall, Vincent and Elizabeth stepped off and walked inside. Elizabeth lead the way through the mall while Vincent watched the people walk by them.

"Here it is!" Elizabeth grabbed Vincent by the hand and pulled him into a jewelry store and straight for the center counter.

"There it is!" Elizabeth pointed to a purple necklace and earring set then she waved to the cashier. "Hey! I want to get the eminence set."

"Eminence..." Vincent trailed off.

As Elizabeth was making her purchase Vincent stepped out of the store and noticed the dark haired girl he saw at the library walking into an antique shop. Vincent fallowed after her, he stood in the entrance way to see her looking at an old grandfather clock.

"Vin!" Elizabeth called to her brother.

Vincent glanced the Elizabeth the turned to walk towards her. _"I'll speak to her at practice."_

The siblings walked through the mall while Elizabeth had her eyes on the jewelry set in her bag. Vincent grabbed his sister to stop her from walking into a crowd of people.

"What's going on Vin?"

"Let's see." Vincent lead Elizabeth through the crowd to see a stage with a large wheel with light along the rim next to a deep sliver motorcycle.

A man in a tan suit stepped up onto the stage. "Step up anyone willing to try their luck! for only ten bills you can try to stop the light on the goal! Win and you get this beauty!" The man patted the motorcycle.

Elizabeth shook her head. "Who would pay for that? The odds are way to high for this be worth a ten." Elizabeth walked off but stopped when Vincent wasn't with her. "Vin?"

 _"With this power you can ace tests, win bets, or even be a better fencer in your case. Y_ _ou now have an easy button for life."_ Catherine's words echoed through Vincent's mind. He wanted to walk away but he couldn't take his eyes off the motorcycle.

"Let's watch this for a bit."

"Okay." Elizabeth stood by her brother as people walked up on the stage to try to win the motorcycle. As each person tried to stop the light on the wheel Vincent muttered 'burst link' to slow time. In the virtual world Vincent climbed onto the stage to watch when and how the button was pressed, how long the light continued to move after the button was pressed.

After using the burst link over two dozen times and the crowd started to thin out Vincent headed for the stage. "Vin?" Elizabeth was shocked to see he try to win.

By the stage two people sitting at a table typed on nothing. A pay system appeared in from of Vincent's vision. Vincent paid the fee as he climbed the stage, he ignored the suited man and held his hands over the button.

 _"The light goes around four more times and stops eleven spaces from where it was when I stop it. I can do this."_ The light began spinning around the wheel. Vincent let it go around two times, waiting for the right moment.

Vincent pressed the button and watched the light keep going. After two cycles the light slowed down, inching towards its goal. Vincent tightened his fists, the light crept its way across the wheel until it finally stopped. Dead on the goal.

Elizabeth and the crowd cheered for Vincent's victory. The burst linker went straight to the suited man with his hand out. "The keys please." The man handed the keys to Vincent as he was staring at the wheel.

Vincent kicked the stand and pushed the motorcycle off the stage and towards Elizabeth. "Guess we'll need to get some helmets now." Vincent glanced to his sister who just watched him awe stricken. "What?"

"How did you do that?"

"I watched the wheel and counted the number of times it moves. I just broke it down to a science." The two arrived at a motor parts shop, Vincent sent some money to Elizabeth. "Can you get helmets? I want a black one."

"Okay!" Elizabeth went into the store.

Vincent took a seat on his new bike. Patting the handlebar Vincent grinned at his winnings. Catherine appeared in his mind and made the victory sour. Vincent rubbed his forehead as he waited for Elizabeth.

"Got them!" Elizabeth ran out of the store with two helmets, a black and sky blue. "Can I drive it?"

"You got a licence?"

"Do you?"

"I will. For now no one needs to know."

The two pushed the bike out of the mall and reached the street. Vincent took one of the helmets from his sister and put it on. "Alright, time to try this out."

Elizabeth climbed onto the bike, while she put on her helmet Vincent saw the girl again. He watched her leaving when Elizabeth patted his back. "Ready!"

 _"Okay is she stoking me?"_ Vincent started the motorcycle and drove to the street. "Where do you want to go?"

"You'll give me a ride? That would be awesome!" Elizabeth pulled up her GPS and sent the directions to Vincent's neuro linker. "Got it?"

"It's here. Time to go, hold on to me, I barely know how to drive this."

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Before Elizabeth could get off Vincent's new motorcycle began to drive off.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?+{:

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	8. Reaching out

Chapter. 8

A week had past since Vincent's outing with Elizabeth. Each day He would go to the amber legion and fight with Amber Demolition, both of them taking a win with each loss.

It was Friday morning at school, Vincent kept going to fencing practice and defeating everyone that challenged him.

The other members of the team talked amount themselves while Vincent sat on a bench waiting for his next fight. The coach was running down a roster on his linker, he waved his hand down to to clear his vision. "Peter and Vincent! You're up!"

The other members patted their team leader on the back as he went to the pat. Vincent stood up and joined Peter. The team leader held up his sword. "You ready to do this tough guy?"

Vincent glared at his opponent. "You're about to regret taking my position."

"You're still upset about that?" Peter lowered his sword.

Vincent rushed in and swung his sword to knock the weapon out of Peter's hands then slid his sword along Peter's neck. As he staggered Vincent attacked again by hitting Peter on the side of his head.

"Vincent!" The coach shouted. "You're suppose to wait for your opponent to get ready."

"His fault for letting his guard down."

"The bench for the rest of practice! You keep this up and you're off the team!"

 _"Like you'd do that to your strongest fencer."_ Vincent took off his mask and went to the benches. At the top he saw the dark haired girl again, typing in the air. Vincent took a breath and climbed up the benches, taking a seat near her.

"Hey."

The girl jumped at Vincent's voice. She looked Vincent in the eye for a second then turned away with her hair covering her face.

"You alright?" The girl still didn't answer. "I've seen you around a lot lately. You into fencing?" The girl kept quiet. "Whatever..." Vincent stood up to climb down.

"Rebecca." Vincent stopped and turned back. "I, I'm Rebecca." The girl spoke in a fragile tone.

"Rebecca. I'm Vincent." Vincent returned to his seat. "So you like fencing?" Rebecca nods. "You wanna try it?" Vincent holds out his sword to Rebecca. She slowly turned to Vincent and reached out to take the sword, weighing it in her hand.

"It's heavier then I thought."

"It has to have some weigh to it. That's how you hurt people, and that's why we wear the suits." Rebecca waved the sword up and down. "If you want I can show you how it's done."

"I... I don't know." Rebecca gave the sword back.

"Okay." Vincent and Rebecca watched the rest of the matches until practice was over and it was time to leave. Vincent went to the locker room to put on his street clothes, when he came out he saw Rebecca was waiting for him. Silently Vincent walked out of the school with Rebecca following him. Outside Vincent went to the parking lot for his bike when he noticed the girl wasn't fallowing him and stood by the street.

"Hey!" Vincent shouted as ran back to her. "What are you?" The girl just hung her head. "You need a lift home?"

Rebecca shook her head. "It's, it's okay I, I'll take the bus."

Vincent checked the bus schedule to find that the next bus wasn't going to arrive for almost an hour. "No way, you're not waiting an hour. I'll take you home."

"Okay..." Rebecca kept her head down as she followed Vincent. They arrived at the bike, Vincent climbed on and offer the helmet to Rebecca. "Put this on."

Rebecca did as ordered and climbed on the bike behind Vincent. "What do I-" Vincent took the girl's arms and wrapped them around his waist. "Hold on to me, got it?" Vincent leaned forward to start the motorcycle the sat back upright. "What's your address?"

Rebecca pulled one of her hands off of Vincent to wave about her finger. A map of the city appeared in Vincent's view with directions for where to go. "Thank you." Vincent kicked on the bike and drove off.

As Vincent drove through the LA streets he felt Rebecca's hold on him tighten on each turn. They stopped at a red light Vincent looked back. "You okay back there?" He felt Rebecca nod with the side of her head pressed against Vincent's back. The light turned green and Vincent drove on.

After driving for a few minutes Vincent pulled up in front of a two story house. He turned off the engine and turned back to Rebecca. "This the place?"

Rebecca climbed off and gave the helmet back to Vincent. "Thank you..." Once Vincent took the helmet Rebecca ran into the house.

Vincent shrugs as he drives off. At the first intersection Vincent got a message, he reached up to press it.

 **Hey Vinny! ;o**

 **I need to see you like right now! Come to the opal HQ, I'll tell you some really impotent stuff.**

 **See you there my son. ;) Mama C xoxo**

Vincent cringed. _"Does that woman have anything better to do?"_ The light turned green and Vincent changed his GPS to the library.

...

Catherine was sitting on a bench, sending emails when a motorcycle rolled up in front of the library. The rider pulled off their helmet to reveal themselves as Vincent. "Vinny!" Catherine waved as she ran towards him. "Sweet bike. How long have you had this?"

"None of your business. So why am I here?"

Catherine ran her finger along motorcycle. "Looks way too new. You get it recently?" Catherine spun around then sat on the bike. "You must be well off if you can afford something like this." Catherine brought a finger to her chin and leaned forward. "You trying to impress me?"

"Get off. Now." Vincent clinched his fists.

"Getting a motorcycle is the fastest way to make a girl-"

"GET OFF!" Vincent grabbed Catherine by her caller and hurled her off the bike and crashing into the sidewalk.

Catherine stood up and dusted herself off. "So you like it rough, just like me."

"You're gonna tell me why I'm here. Now." Vincent pointed at her with the helmet.

Catherine tilted her head and crossed her arms. "Or what? You'll hit me?"

"I'm considering it."

"Your actions against the amber legion haven't gone unnoticed. Your constant fights with Amber Demolition have caused the amber legion to become more aggressive."

"And? Is that so unexpected?"

"It means they're going to be a lot more motivated in the territory battles tomorrow. Just a waning for my son."

"Stop calling me that." Vincent looked around and waited for more from Catherine who just stood there. "So that's it? You couldn't have told me this over an email?"

"I like to talk to people in person, you get to see their reaction. If you want I could come to your place." Catherine rubbed her hand on Vincent's arm. "But I'll need you tell me where it is."

"Get off of me." Vincent put on his helmet and went back to his bike.

"Where we going?" Catherine walked with Vincent.

Vincent stared down Catherine. "Away from you."

Catherine shook her head. "You're welcome!" She shouted as Vincent started the bike.

"I didn't thank you." Vincent rode off to get home.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?+{:

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	9. Shattered Amber

Chapter. 9

Saturday arrived and the territory battles were about to begin. In the opal palace Catherine walked through the lobby, passing several other players as they made teams and talked about what strategies to use.

Catherine opened a menu to summon a door, stepping inside she found Vincent alone in a blank room, standing over a map of the amber legion. Catherine pressed a few buttons and glasses of wine appeared in her hands. "How's my little warrior doing?" Catherine offered a glass to Vincent.

Vincent kept quiet as he brought up an image of Amber Demolition. "You're planning to fight him again? Well no doubt you've made this personal." Catherine drank one of the glasses of wine in one shot then tossed the glass away. "Good. Make it personal! Let the anger guide you, make you unstoppable."

An alarm popped up in Catherine's view, telling her the time. "Ten minutes before it starts. Do you're best." Catherine drank the second glass of wine, after throwing it aside Catherine rested her hands on Vincent's shoulder and whispered into his ear. "If you make it past six opponents I'll let you have one date with me."

"Get off me!" Vincent shook Catherine off then turned to her. "Stay away from me. Fucking harpy." Vincent turned back to the image.

Catherine shrugged and walked to the exit. "Fine. Your loss."

Once Catherine was gone took a long, slow breath. _"Breath in, focus, let's put an end to this Amber."_ Vincent removed the image and closed his eyes, remembering each of his fights with Amber Demolition. Vincent heard a beep, he saw a menu asking him about the territory battles. Vincent left his settings to one on one and waited for the first fight.

The world shifted to an open wasteland. Vincent looked around but found nothing big enough to fully hide behind. "Shit. No cover. I'll need to keep moving." Vincent heard a shot and ran. diving to the dirt with an explosion behind him. Vincent stood up to see Amber Demolition firing again. _"Already? Guess luck favors me today."_ Vincent rush to attack, Amber fired another grenade but Vincent kept running as he watched the grenade.

As the grenade got closer Vincent stopped as change direction. Running to his left he jumped as the grenade landed, pushing Vincent from the force of the blasted. Vincent landed on his feet and rolled to steady himself then keep running without losing motion. _"Two."_

Amber shot three more grenades, one aimed to land in front of Vincent while the other two were to land on both sides of him. Vincent stopped running and started hopping back, away from the blasts. The grenades landed and the combined force pushed Vincent even further back.

Vincent curled up his body as he landed, hitting the ground on his hands and feet and sliding back. _"Five."_ Vincent stood up and kept running.

Amber started walking backwards and took a more careful aim. Waiting for Vincent to get closer then fire. With the grenade coming right at him. Vincent dropped to his and leaned back to let the grenade fly over him the leaned forward, stay as close to the ground as he could to hold his ground from the explosion. _"Six. All out."_ Vincent grinned, he stood up and fired his blaster at Amber as he stood up once more.

After each shot missed Amber pulled a smoke bomb of his belt raising the bomb to throw it down. As it hit the ground Vincent ran into the smoke and tackled Amber Demolition, pushing him out of the smoke cloud and threw him to the ground.

Vincent stood over Amber demolition and punched him repeatedly in the face. Amber reached up and grabbed on of Vincent's arms but the tyrant kept punching with his free hand.

Amber struke Vincent in the head with his grenade launcher arm to get him off then sat up to reload the launcher. Vincent fell into the dirt and fired three beams from his blaster. Two shots flew by Amber's head while the third hit him in the chest. As Amber was stumbling sat up and drew his, throwing his sheath at Amber to buy more time.

Amber slapped the sheath away and saw Vincent lunging at him with his sword pointed out. On instinct Amber held out his hand and the sword pierced through and cut into half of Amber's arm.

Amber screamed in agony and Vincent quickly silenced him with a punch the the face. Vincent was over Amber once again and punched him again, now cracking the mask. Amber swung his grenade launcher again, this time Vincent held up his arm to block, taking only light damage as he kept punching with his free arm. Amber swung his other arm and hit Vincent in the ribs with the sword handle sticking out of his hand.

The hit caused Vincent to flinch and loosen his arm pressed against the grenade launcher which Amber used to knock Vincent off of him. Amber stood up then aimed the weapon at Vincent as he backed away. "Dodge this bitch!" Amber fired but the grenade launcher only made a click sound.

Vincent sat up his knees and held out his blaster. "Okay, now dodge this." Vincent shot a laser at Amber, hitting him in the chest as he pushed himself to his feet. Amber flicked his launcher chamber open then reached for more grenades on his belt but couldn't get any because of the sword lodged through his arm.

Amber tried hitting the sword to knock it out but it was only cutting more into his arm, causing chip damage. Amber turned to run then Vincent shot him in the leg. Vincet kept shooting as he walked towards Amber, putting spaces between his spots to avoid heat build up.

Amber turned on his back and held his hand out. "Stop! Wait, wait, just please wait!" Vincent stood over Amber Demolition with blaster pointed at his heart. "It may not seem like it but our back and farther for the past week, it's been draining my points." Vincent stood silently, unmoving. "I don't have the points to lose this fight. You kill me now I'll lose Brain Burst! I need this game and the power it gives! Please I'm begging you-"

"Charge Shot." Vincent fired a concentrated beam into Amber's chest the moved his arm to cut him in half with the beam. Amber Demolition's heath dropped to zero and his body faded away.

The world fell apart as Vincent was carried back to the lobby in the opal palace. The other members of the legion stood around, asking what happened. A message appear in front of Vincent, telling him to take the lift to the war room.

Vincent stepped into the lift and looked down to see everyone looking at him as he rode up. The lift doors open and Vincent stepped into the war, finding only Catherine and Opal Commander waiting for him. Past them was a map of the legion territories with the amber legion missing. Now covered in the opal legion's color.

Opal Commander placed her hand on Vincent's back. "Come with us."

"Where are you taking me?" Vincent shook her off.

Opal Commander pointed to where the amber legion was on the map. "I watched your fight with Amber Demolition. You defeated the legion leader, ended the Amber legion, and now the territory belongs to the opal legion. " Opal returned her hand to Vincent's back as she stood beside him. "And we have you to thank. A hero in our dark hour of need. come let us let the legion know of your success."

Opal Commander stood on a balcony with Vincent over looking the lobby. Opal pulled up a menu to create large screens around the lobby for everyone to see her then turned up her volume. "Members of the opal legion. If you all are wondering what has happened. The amber legion has been defeated. By this brave warrior." Opal steps back and gently pushes Vincent to step forward.

"The hero we owe this victory too. Eminence Tyrant!" The entire legion clapped and cheered for Vincent.

Feeling the glory coming from the legion Vincent held up his fist and nods his head lightly while grinning. _"About time I got the respect I deserve."_

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	10. Invasive

Chapter. 10

"Only a week in and you've beaten the amber king!" Catherine pushed the library door open, letting Vincent walk out. Once outside Catherine wrapped her hands around Vincent's arm. "Mama's so proud of you."

"Get off of me."

"Still the deal was beat more then six." Catherine rested her head on Vincent's arm. "But I'll make an exception since it was a legion leader."

"Get off me!" Vincent ripped his arm away from Catherine. "I didn't do it for you. I fought Amber Demolition because he was in my way, nothing more."

"You sure?" Catherine waved her hand around and a picture appeared in front of Vincent. It was of him smiling with his fist in the air. Vincent shoved the photo away. "So you can smile. You should do it more often."

"I'm not here to amuse you."

"Why not stay and party with the legion? It's the recognition I know crave."

Vincent spun around to Catherine. "You don't know anything about me."

"Oh really?" Catherine placed her hands behind her back and swayed from side to side. "An up and coming fencing star unable to be captain. Study day and night only to come up second best. You try to do everything fair but you just can't get anywhere." Catherine snapped her fingers. "But now a charming goddess has blessed you with a power to go beyond mortals. So why do you still resist it?"

"You only got top of the class because you cheated! If I can't do things fair then what's the point? Everything will just be a hollow victory." Vincent stepped closer. "And you're no goddess."

"So a week in and you still haven't used brain burst to get what you want?"

"No."

"Really."

"I'm not weak willed like you."

Catherine sighs and takes a breath. "It's not a weakness Vinny. Brain burst is a power that puts us above the rest. I know you want to prove you're better and this is how you can do it. Isn't there anything you want? Brain burst can get it for you."

"If I can't get by on my own power then what's the point?"

"We all need help Vinny. I'm here to guide you, as much as you act like you can take on the whole world you wouldn't have gotten anywhere in brain burst with little old me." Vincent tightened his fists. "Still, you did good. Keep it up and big things will come your way." Catherine took Vincent's hand and placed it on her chest. "And I don't just mean these."

"What is wrong with you?" Vincent pulls his hand back.

"Just looking after my champion, and making sure you're well compensated for your work."

Vincent walked to his motorcycle. "I'm going home. Don't call me."

"Don't be like that my champion. You need anything you call me. I'll make anything happen."

Vincent climbed onto his bike and rode off. He drove around the city, making sure to stay in the opal territory. He stopped at the docks to look out to the sea. When Vincent took off his helmet he found a few strands of dark hair.

"Rebecca." Vincent pulled the hair out and let the wind carry it away. "Wonder how she's doing. I'm sure I'll see her at practice, if not then it's whatever."

Vincent heard ringing and groaned. "I swear if that bitch again..." Vincent pressed the receive call.

"Hello Tyrant." The voice was from Opal Commander. "I wanted to congratulate you once more on defeating Amber Demolition. I'll be keeping an eye on you from now on."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Rest for now, plans are being made to more against the sapphire legion. When they're done I hope to count on your help once again to crush them."

"Fine." Vincent hung up then sat on his motorcycle.

 _"So a week in and you still haven't used brain burst to get what you want?"_

Vincent shut his eyes and shook his head. _"She doesn't need to know."_ Vincent started his bike. _"I didn't cheat, I equalized it."_ Vincent kept repeating that thought to himself as he drove.

...

"Hey Vin, you're home early."

"Am I? It's just in time for dinner." Vincent glanced into the living room. "Mom and dad not here?"

"No they had to go check a house up in the hills. They won't be back till late at night."

"Ah. So what are you making?"

"Guess!"

Vincent's shoulders slumped. "I didn't know we were five again."

"Come on guess, it's easy!"

"It's bolognese."

Elizabeth blinked in surprise. "How did you know?"

Vincent looks into the kitchen. "I see a stockpot so it's a soup or sauce." He then examines Elizabeth. "Second you're wearing an apron so you're making something messy or stains." Vincent points into the kitchen. "I also see a cutting board with bits of vegetables, mostly tomatoes. The knife still has tomato juice on it, so something heavy with tomato souce. Finally I saw beef packaging in the trash. So bolognese."

Elizabeth had froze during Vincent's speech, and stares at him with wide eyes. After a Vincent finished Elizabeth pouted. "That's not fair. You loss!"

"Why do I lose?"

"You didn't follow the rules and guess. You did that robotic analysis again."

Vincent shrugged. "Like I said. Everything can be broken down into a science." Vincent heads up the stairs. "Call me when it's ready."

The teen laid on his on his bed and brought up the brain burst territory map. He zoomed in on the sapphire territory. _"Sapphire. Blue. Blue is close range. So I'll need to keep some distance."_ Vincent raised his right arm. _"Too bad my aim is shit. I should make a VR shooting range to get better, or at least acceptable. Maybe sis can help."_

 _"You need anything you call me."_

Vincent cringed remembering Catherine's words. "I'd rather drink battery acid then ask for her help."

"Vincent! Get down here!" Shouted Elizabeth.

"Coming!" Vincent sat up and went down stairs. "What's-" Vincent stopped as went into the kitchen, seeing Catherine sitting at the table with Elizabeth.

"Hello Vinny." Catherine waved to Vincent.

Vincent snapped. He grabbed Catherine by her shirt and pulled her to the front door, throwing her out then slammed the door shut. "Why are you here?"

Catherine brushed her hair back. "You think in this day and age it'd be hard to find an address?"

"I asked you why."

"Is it wrong to spend time with my man." Catherine stepped closer to Vincent with her hands out on his chest.

Vincent shoves Catherine away, hard enough that she fell to the ground. Catherine sat up to see Vincent standing over her. "I'll tell you this once, ONLY once. We are NOT together. We never WILL be. I want NOTHING to do with you. You will NEVER come near my house again." Vincent turned away to go back inside.

"You still haven't told me how you got your bike."

Vincent flinched as he held the door handle. Vincent almost ripped the door open and slammed the door shut once inside.

"What was that?" Asked Elizabeth.

"She is to never come in here again, you get me?"

"You two having trouble?"

"She... someone I helped." Vincent tasted bile as he spoke. "Now she won't leave me alone."

"Okay."

The siblings went back to the kitchen, Elizabeth opened the stockpot when Vincent grabbed a pair of plates. "Hey sis, you good at making programs?"

"Sort of, why?"

"I need some help making one. A shooting range."

Elizabeth tilts her head. "What?"

"You know where a cord is, it'll be better and faster if I show you."

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	11. Advancements

Chapter. 11

Vincent stood on the training mat as his next opponent stepped up. He held up his sword, standing ready and waiting.

The gym doors opened and Rebecca entered. Vincent noticed her approach and was struke in the head by his opponent's sword. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen.

Vincent took off his helmet and rubbed his head as he walked towards Rebecca. "Hey Rebecca."

"Hello Vincent. I, I thought about it and I'd like to be apart of the fencing team."

"That's cool, but... school clubs don't recruit during the summer. You'll have to wait till school starts up again."

"Oh." Rebecca hung her head.

"But that doesn't mean you can't stick around to watch and learn. Come on." Vincent led her to the benches to watch the rest of practice.

Everyone in the gym took glances at Rebecca which mat her feel unwelcome. Rebecca would turn to Vincent who glared at anyone looking their way.

Two people stood on the mat to fight. The fight one made a jab to cause the other to step back.

"That's a Feint. A false attack to provoke a reaction from the opponent."

"What kind of a reaction?"

"Mostly to see what they'll do. Are they scared easily or more daring?"

"Oh." Rebecca nods and keeps watching.

As fight progressed one of the jabbed their sword and the other swung their blade to knock the weapon away and follow with a lunge, hitting them in the chest.

Vincent pointed to the connecting hit. "That's a Parry. A basic defense technique, block the opponent's weapon then deflect the blade away from the fencer's valid area, usually the chest. Done the right way. You get a return attack called a Riposte."

"What's he doing?"

"A specific position where the arm is straight and the pointing at the opponent's target area. It's called a Point-in-line."

"But isn't that telling your opponent what you'll attack?"

"True, but it can be a faint to make them think that's what you're going for. Raise your guard in one place with weaken the guard in others."

"Okay."

Practice went on as the other members fought and Vincent explained each of the movements to Rebecca. When practice was over everyone headed to the locker room to change.

Vincent stood up and dust off his suit. "So what do you think?"

"I liked it. Thank you for showing me."

"You want to try it out? Once the others are gone we can get you a suit and go a few rounds."

"I don't want to be a bother."

"I wouldn't offer if it was." Vincent lead Rebecca to the locker room. On the back wall several suits hung, ready for use. "Pick one that fits. I'll wait outside when you're done."

A few minutes later Rebecca came out wearing a fencing suit with a sword in one hand and a face guard in the other. "How do I look?"

Vincent nods with a grin. "Suits you well. Ready?" The two walked to the mat. "Okay hold your sword up like this. Try to mirror me."

Rebecca mimicked Vincent. "Like this."

"Good. Now let's do some lunges, or stabs if you want to call it that."

...

After an hour of practice the two exited the school and walked to the parking lot, Vincent sat on his bike and took out two helmets, holding one out to Rebecca. "Ready to go?"

"Yes." Rebecca put on the helmet and she climbed onto the bike. "Do you need directions?"

"I got it." Vincent pulled up his GPS and checked the history. "Let's go! Hold on!" Vincent revved his engine and took off into the street. Knowing the way Vincent drove faster then before. Along the way Rebecca held on to him tighter then before.

Vincent arrived at Rebecca's house then stopped in front of it. Vincent turned off his bike then removed his helmet. He turned back to find Rebecca still holding tightly to him. "You okay?" Rebecca nods. "We're here."

Rebecca slowly let go and climbed off the bike. "You okay? Was I going too fast?" Rebecca takes off her helmet and hands it to Vincent. "You know if something is bothering you, you can tell me."

"I, I know. Thank you Vincent."

"So was I going to fast?"

"I'm... Just not used to ride a motorcycle."

"Ah." Vincent took the helmet. "I'll stop if it's to much-"

"No!" Rebecca looked up to Vincent who was taken back by the sudden outburst. "I'm sorry." Rebecca spun round and ran into her house.

Vincent put away the spare helmet and drove off. Still thinking about what just happened.

Driving down a few blocks Vincent stopped at a red light and a message appeared. Vincent took a long breath and opened it.

 **You'll be getting a challenge. Accept it. Cathy ;(**

An invite to a challenge in brain burst appeared. Vincent rolled his eyes and pulled over the the sidewalk then accepted the battle.

The world changed into an ice field in the dead of night. Vincent drew his sword as he scanned the area then checked the name of his enemy. "Ocean Duelist." The arrow pointed to a wall of ice.

The ice shattered and shard of the block flew everywhere, Vincent held up his arms against the winds.

"You have a helmet so why cover you're face?" Where the ice was stood a blue avatar armed with a black long sword. "Hello Tyrant. So you're the one Teal picked?" Vincent stepped back then held up is his blaster.

"Sonic boom." Ocean Duelist dashed to Vincent at blinding speed and slashed him across the chest. Vincent staggered back as two thirds of health dropped. Ocean Duelist held out his sword to examine the blade. "Odd. I even held back but that would normally one shot a purple."

Vincent gritted his teeth and fired at Ocean who deflected each laser that would've connected. "You're aim needs a lot of work."

Vincent rushed towards Ocean and swung his sword to decapitate him. Ocean side stepped the blade and kick Vincent in the back as he ran past him. "Poor sword work." Vincent crashed into the ice, he pushed himself up turned to Ocean with his blaster out then Ocean sliced off Vincent's arm.

Vincent fell back on the ice, Ocean stomped on Vincent's chest and lunged his blade sword in The downed avatar's other arm. "Ready to listen now?" Vincent glared up at Ocean. "Good then. I'd like to say good work on ripping apart amber legion. You got sapphire next but you'll need a bit more power." Ocean Duelist pulled his sword out and stepped back.

"A lot of faith is being put on you new kid. Do good out there." Ocean duelist took his sword and plunged the sword into his skull. Vincent pushed himself up as Ocean Duelist fell backwards.

The victory screen appear to announce that his point count went up by fifty. "Fifty points?!" Another screen appeared to announce his level had gone up to two. "What's this?" The screen scrolled down to reveal more.

 **Blaster fire mode: beam.**

The world returned to normal. Vincent held his arm as it throbbed with pain. He opened his brain burst menu to see his level was now two then checked his attack to see the new beam option. _"Who was that? Why would anyone give up fifty points on a whim?"_

Vincent opened his history and found the name. Vincent pressed the name to see more information. The first thing he saw was Ocean Duelist's legion. _"Amethyst? He said Teal. Catherine."_ Vincent revved his engine then stopped as pain shot up his arm again. "Fine. I'll sit here for a bit."

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	12. Invited

Chapter. 12

A month had past since Rebecca had started coming to the fencing practice. each time she arrived Vincent walked the through each other movements of the other team members. Once the official practice was over Vincent would spent another hour to teach Rebecca what talked about before. When they were finished Vincent would drive Rebecca home who would silently ride with him each time.

The two were fighting as normal, Vincent was careful with his movement to not push Rebecca too hard as she learned.

As they practiced Vincent noticed Rebecca's moves were unfocused. She wasn't his equal but was getting better over time. Vincent stepped back and lowered his sword. "You okay? You're not moving like last time."

"I'm fine." Vincent only looked at her. Rebecca sighed and lowered her sword as well. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Vincent lend her to the benches. "Tell me what's up."

"You've spent all this time helping me but, I... I'm not sure this is for me."

Vincent felt disheartened to see Rebecca upset. "You okay. You're getting better I can see it. You just need some confidence is all." An idea occurred to him, he smiled as he patted Rebecca's back. "You play any online games?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No. I , don't have a lot of time for them."

"I got one I'd like for you to try. Though we'll need a cord." Rebecca quickly grabbed her bag and opened it, taking out a three foot cord and holding it out the Vincent. "Okay..."

Vincent took an end of the cord and connected it to his neuro-linker as Rebecca did the same with hers. "I'm going to give you a game I got almost two months ago. It's called Brain Burst."

"Brain Burst?"

"It's an online fighting game. I think it'll get you some confidence. Trust me. Nothing like ripping someone's head off to de-stress." The two watched the loading bar fill.

When it was finished a message appeared in front of Rebecca, welcoming her to Brain Burst. Vincent pulled out the cord and gave it back to Rebecca. "That'll do it. The game won't be playable till tomorrow after you sleep. I'll come by your place in the morning and tell you more about it."

"Oh, okay..."

"You okay?" Rebecca nods. "Come on, I'll take you home." The two stood up and walked to the locker room. Once changed they left the school and arrived back at Vincent bike in the parking lot. Vincent drove slower then normal to Rebecca's house.

Rebecca held on to Vincent as tight as usual. Vincent expected that her grip on him would loosen the more he drove her but that didn't seem to be the case. It took a few minutes longer to reach Rebecca's house. The two climbed off the bike and walked to the door. "I'll come by tomorrow morning. You have good rest of your day, alright?"

"Thank you." Rebecca hugged Vincent then quickly ran into her house.

...

An few minutes later Vincent drove home, pushing his bike into the garage then went inside. "I'm home!" No one returned his greeting.

Vincent sighed and went up stairs to his room. Inside he fell on his bed and connected to the family server. Running through the menus he found what he wanted and started it up. The world shifted to a shooting range.

Vincent felt a weight on his right arm, a replica of his duel avatar's blaster. "Let's get it right this time Vincent." Targets popped up from the ground, Vincent aimed and fired but missed the first set. "For fuck sakes come on!" The next set appeared and Vincent missed them all as well. "Come on!" He fired randomly as he shouted in anger. See he missed all of the third set Vincent took a long slow breath.

"Alright. Alright then, deep breathes. Focus." Vincent calmed himself then went to the settings. He pulled all the targets closer to him. "Okay. Just like with a sword. Baby steps. Baby steps." Vincent breathed and fired at a target, hitting the top area of it. He lowered his arm with each shop until he hit close to the center.

"Alright, think. Gauge it. Everything can be broken down to a science." Vincent aimed at another target and spot below the center. "It hits above my fist." Vincent held out his palm to the target then lowered it to fire. Hitting above the center. "Like casting a fireball." Vincent grinned as he repeated the motion, he never hit the center of the targets but was getting closer each time.

...

The next day Vincent pulled up in front of Rebecca's home once again. He sent a massage to Rebecca to let her know that he was back as he walked to the front door. He got to the door then raised his hand to knock when the door opened. "Hello Vincent."

"Hello. Can I come in-"

"Yes!" Rebecca grabbed Vincent's arm and pulled him inside.

"Someone's excited."

Rebecca pulled her hand back and held it. "Sorry! I... I, uh."

"It's fine Rebecca. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Okay."

"Now then, let's get started. Do you see the icon for Brain Burst?"

"Yes."

"Good, now press it and hit matchmaking." Rebecca did as asked. "Now press Eminence Tyrant, that's my name." The world shifted to an open grassy plain lit by a setting sun. "This is a nice looking area."

"Vincent?" The tyrant turned to his left and stepped back.

Before him stood a duel avatar of pale white armor almost as clear as glass. On her hip hung a black handgun and a sliver combat knife strapped to her leg. The helmet had two eye lenses instead of a full face visor. One lens was purple and the other was green, matching her real eyes.

"That armor looks good on you." Vincent glanced up to see her avatar's name. "Prism Rose. Didn't know Prism counted as a color."

Rebecca looked down at her body and started shaking. "What is this?!"

"Calm down Rebecca. It's fine. That's your duel avatar form. It's what you fight in." Rebecca looked down at herself again. "Welcome to Brain Burst. You find other players with this game, fight them and take points. The points you get is what you need to level up and get more power."

"Okay but... why did I get this body? Is it the default?"

Vincent placed a hand on his hip. "Do you remember having a bad dream last night?"

"Yes. I, I don't remember what it was. I only remember that it was bad."

"That's Brain Burst going through your mind." Vincent taps on the side of his helmet. "From what I learned it read your mind to find traumas, mental scaring and desires. Once a avatar is made it can't be changed."

"This avatar is a creation of my fears?"

"More or less. Face your fears, use it as your weapon and defeat any and all that stand against you."

"Why would people stand against me?"

"Because they want your points."

"My points?"

"Every new player is given a hundred points you win fights you take take their points. You lose they take your points." Vincent stepped closer and placed his hands on Rebecca's shoulders. "This is important. You can't lose all of your points. If you do Brain Burst will uninstall and you'll lose the game forever."

"Why would it do that? What are we fighting for to warrant such an extreme?"

"Because the points can, well... Brain Burst is not just a game. I've seen people fight tooth and nail to keep it. See, the points aren't just for getting stronger. They can be used in the real world."

"How?"

Vincent let go of Rebecca as he thought for a moment. "You know my bike? I got it thanks to Brain Burst. I'll show you when we get out of this. For now we should see what your duel avatar can do." Vincent stepped back and drew his sword. "Let me show you a few thing my avatar can do."

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	13. Bonding

Chapter. 13

As the timer was almost up Vincent took his sword and stabbed his hand to lower his own health. "When the time is up the one with the most health wins."

Rebecca gasped at the act. "But you'll lose points!"

"I got plenty on me. Twenty points won't hurt me." The two returned to the real world from Rebecca's introduction to Brain Burst. "So what do you think?" Vincent asked as he rubbed his hand.

"It seems... I don't really know. I'm sorry." Rebecca noticed Vincent holding his hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just some phantom pain from the game, the mind playing tricks with the body. It'll be good in a bit."

"We'll be hurt when we leave the game? Why is this game so extreme?"

"For the power the game gives us. Burst points, or BP can be used to speed up your heart rate so fast that to you it looks like time as almost stopped."

"Speed up my heart? Isn't that dangerous?"

"It's only for a split second, actually less then that. It's just like everything else, moderation. As long as you don't use it all day everyday you'll be fine." Rebecca nods. "We'll need to get somewhere public to show it off though."

"I'm still not fully sure about this."

"That's fine Rebecca. Give it some time and then you'll be able to make your choice to stay or go with a clear mind." Vincent glanced at the time. "Alright, I'll need to be leaving for now."

"Already?"

Vincent noticed a hint of disappointment. "I have an engagement in a couple of hours. Though I guess it wouldn't hurt if I stay longer."

"Okay!" Rebecca almost jumped for joy then lead Vincent to the sofa. "Come on, sit here!"

Sitting down Vincent looked around the house. It seemed well enough with some parts closely resembling his own home but with more furniture. "So are your parents around?"

"No. Both of them are doctors so they work a lot, but not enough that I don't see them. They're home normally four times a week."

"Okay. You got any siblings?"

"No. Just me and my parents. What about you?"

"My parents work in real estate though I see them every night. I have a little sister, Elizabeth. Smart girl, wants to get into the tech field."

"That's really cool. So what do you do as a hobby?"

Vincent shrugs. "Well, Brian Burst when I got it. Before though... Not much I..." Vincent started to reflect on his life to this point. All of his time was spent to better himself, to prove he stood above the rest. "I really... Didn't do much, my time was spent studying and practicing fencing when I got into high school."

"What are your friends like?"

Vincent glanced to the floor. "I... Don't have any friends." His chest felt hollow as he spoke to Rebecca. He looked to Rebecca and quickly changed the topic. "What about you? Friends? hobbies?"

Rebecca just hung her head. "I don't, really have a lot of time for that stuff."

"Nose to the grindstone. What a pair we are." Vincent lightly chuckled to himself. The mood started to sour around the two. Vincent thought back to the mall and tried a new approach. "Hey I saw you at an antique shop. You like old things?"

"Is that weird?" Rebecca didn't look up.

"No. Old stuff has charm, it's something you can touch. I might be the weird one since I like stuff I can touch."

"I completely agree!" Rebecca took a watch on a chain from her pocket, holding it out to Vincent to take.

"A pocket watch. The wind up kind. Now this is retro. You gotta pay a pretty penny for one of these."

"It's been in my family for seventy years."

"So it's got some history to it." Vincent examined the scratch marks on the watch. He opened the watch to find it was still ticking. "Still going? Built to last alright." Vincent handed the watch back to Rebecca. "So what else you got here?"

Rebecca lead Vincent by the hand to the dining room to see the grandfather clock form the antique shop. Vincent ran his fingers along the side of clock, feeling the wood grain. "This is cool." Vincent pulled his hand back and rubbed his finger against his thumb. "You're parents like this thing?"

"Well it wouldn't be in the dining room if they didn't."

Vincent smiled lightly. "My family call me an old man sometimes because I keep a lot of these kinds of things in my room."

"But it gives a house character. Makes it feel like a home."

"Exactly! You should see my house, especially my parent's and Elizabeth's rooms. So barren, they say its so they can use their neurolinkers to put whatever they want wherever they want. But it's not really there."

The two spent their time talking about the things they liked and compared what they found. Vincent's neurolinker chimed to let him know it was time to leave.

"Time to go. I'll be back in a bit, we'll go to a public area and I'll show you what you can do with the BP."

"Okay." Rebecca walked with Vincent to his bike. "Thank you. For coming over."

"Anytime. Here." Vincent set up his contact info for Rebecca to see. "If you got any questions just call."

"Okay!"

Vincent put his helmet and drove off. Rebecca waited till he was out of view before going back inside.

...

Vincent rolled up to the library, climbing off his bike to enter the building. Inside Vincent found an empty booth and took a seat to connect to the library network. Inside Vincent entered the opal palace to find everyone in the legion teaming up for the up coming fight against the sapphire legion.

As Vincent walked through the lobby the other players noticed him and shouted out to him. Vincent waved to the players as he walked by.

"There you are!" Vincent stopped cold and cringed at the sound of Catherine's voice. "It's not like you to be late like this. You getting scared or what?" Catherine held on to his arm.

Vincent ignored her and opened a menu to create a private room. Vincent pulled his arm free and walked in with Catherine on his kneels. "You ready to fight for your legion Vinny." Vincent still didn't answer. "Vinny?" Catherine stood behind Vincent, she wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head on his shoulder. "You can talk to be Vinny. A parent has to look after their child."

Vincent peeled Catherine off of him. "I'm fine. Now leave, I need to focus."

"So I'm distracting for you? That's nice to know." Catherine lightly laughed. "Very well love. Do good and I'll reward you later." Catherine opened the door and left.

Vincent barely heard Catherine. His thoughts were on Rebecca and his time spent with her today. _"Maybe giving her the game was a bad idea. I don't want an innocent wrapped up in this legion fighting mess. A parent looks after their child. It's too late now, I'll protect her."_

The time had come. Vincent choose to fight one on one and the game started.

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	14. Sapphire's leader

Chapter. 14

Vincent stood in a destroyed city as his first battle began. The avatar before him was a blue one with a great sword.

The avatar charged Vincent as he stood still. They swung the great sword high to decapitate their foe. Vincent ducked under the sword and drew his own, cutting the avatar in half. Vincent stood over the avatar and shot it in the head with his blaster to end the fight.

The sky darkened with clouds and rain drizzled over the area and another blue avatar armed with a battle axe arrived. _"Odd. A menu would normally come up and ask if I wanted to keep fighting. What's changed now?"_ Vincent carefully watched the avatar as they rushed him as well. They raised they battle axe then brought it down, Vincent spun out of the way and cut off their head. "Is this the best the sapphire legion has to offer?"

Vincent waited for a menu to appear but the world shifted again to the bottom to a canyon, standing in front of Vincent was a blue avatar twice his size. Vincent glanced at the avatar's name and flinched. _"Sapphire Brawler?!"_

"There you are! She was right!" The avatar rushed at Vincent.

Vincent ducked under the enemies fist and swung his blade against sapphire's leg only for it to slide along the armor, barely cutting it. Sapphire grabbed Vincent and hurled him across the landscape. Once Vincent stopped his pushed himself up and was punched in the side of the head, sending him sliding along the dirt.

"That your best?" Sapphire Brawler walked towards the downed Vincent.

The tyrant held up his blaster and shot Sapphire in the chest to slow him down. Vincent kept shooting him in the chest as he climbed back to his feet, once up Vincent and Sapphire dashed towards each other. Sapphire hold out his hands to grab the tyrant while Vincent slid under the giant's legs the get behind them. "Charge Shot!" held out his blaster and fired a large beam into Sapphire's back. Taking a fourth of their health.

Sapphire turns around and grabs Vincent by the arm and crushes the blaster. He swings Vincent around and slams him into the ground repeatedly until Vincent's arm is ripped off.

Vincent cried out in pain as blood flowed out of his wound. Sapphire grabbed a hold of Vincent and held him up. "So you're the one who beat Amber... Disappointing."

"I'm not here to amuse you, you brute." Vincent thrusted his sword into Sapphire's arm for it to slid off. He tried to slice into Sapphire's head but his sword bounced off. "Thought greens had the best defense."

"Sapphires are the third hardest mineral after all." Brawler hold Vincent's head and crushed it.

Vincent returned to the opal palace with a results screen in front of him showing he successfully defended a door opened and Catherine walked in. "Hey Vinny!" She jumped at Vincent and hugged him from behind. "I watched your fights with the first two were flawless!" Vincent didn't answer and just opened a menu. "Are you upset that you beat by Sapphire Brawler? It was against the legion leader so take it as a learning experience love."

Vincent still didn't answer. "Vinny. You know I hate to be ignored." Catherine walked around to stand in front of Vincent the stopped to see he was looking up sapphires. "Nose to the grindstone, huh? Just can't take a loss, can you? That's what I've come to love about you Vinny."

"I'm busy, not get lost."

"Or what?"

Vincent opened another menu and Catherine faded away, kicked from the private room that he made. "Third hardest mineral. She was right?" Vincent went back to researching sapphires and opened a tap to summon an image of Sapphire Brawler. "I'll find your weakness."

...

Vincent stepped out of the private room and into the palace lobby. Catherine tapper her foot with crossed arms as she stared at Vincent. "You finished?"

"You waited?"

"Why wouldn't I, after all I want to know what you were doing and how your fight with the legion leader went."

"You saw how it went." Vincent logged out. Returning to the real world Vincent screamed in agony from the phantom pain emanating from his head and arm. Pounded his fist on the desk.

Everyone in the library turned to the noise, some getting up to see what it was. People asked if Vincent was okay and told him to keep quiet. Vincent Stood up and fought against the pain as he walked out. When he reached the door Catherine grabbed it to open it for him. "Here you go."

Vincent didn't speak and walked out. "A thank you would be nice."

"Shut up..."

"Oh right. Head crushed and all. The headache must be something else."

Vincent took a seat on a bench as he waited for the pain to fade. Catherine sat right beside him. "Maybe you need a partner. Someone who can take care of you at times like this." Catherine reached for Vincent's hand and he pulled it away. "Well if you're going to be like that then maybe it's time you create your own."

Vincent turned to Catherine. "What?"

"Just like how I brought you into Brain Burst you too can give the game to someone."

"And how do I do that?"

"Well..." Catherine stretches as she leans back. "To give Brain Burst to someone they need to meet two conditions. They need to have had a neurolinker from birth and they need a high mental speed. Like being really smart, or in your case good at a sport." Vincent rolled his eyes. "What? No come back?"

"I work alone." Vincent stood up as the pain began to subside.

"OH! One more thing!" Catherine shot up and grabbed on to Vincent's arm, causing him to wince. "Sorry!" Catherine let go and stepped back. "One more thing. You can only give the game to one person and one only. So if the game doesn't take then you lost that ability to bring someone in."

"That's a little extreme, isn't it?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's to keep the game a secret. We do have a power on a level above mortals." Catherine grins to Vincent full of mischief in her eyes. "So choice carefully now Vinny. Be sure they can keep a secret as well as meet the other conditions."

Vincent turned to walk away when Catherine jumped in front of him. "One More thing! Last thing, I promise." Vincent folded his arms. "When someone gives the game to another person they also create a close bond to them." Catherine stepped closer to Vincent, gentle brushing her hand along his arm. "It's very common for some to become lovers."

"Why do you keep doing this? I have no interest in you. I find a sand paper more attractive and interesting then you."

"I know you like it rough." Catherine winked. Vincent pushed Catherine aside walked away. "I still have to reward you for your hard work! Call me when you're ready to collect Vinny!"

Vincent walked through the parking lot with his thoughts weighting on his mind. _"Can only give the game to one person... Rebecca. I brought her into this mess. I have to protect her, now more then ever."_ Vincent climbed onto his bike and and started the engine. "A close bond..." Vincent put on his helmet and drove off.

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	15. Prism Shift

Chapter. 15

Vincent drove through the city at high speeds, faster then he would normally go. When he returned to Rebecca's home, The one he came to see ran out the front door to greet him. "Welcome back Vincent!"

"Sorry about that, hop on." Rebecca took the second helmet and climbed on the bike behind Vincent. "So what do you want for lunch? What's you guilty pleasure?"

"Burgers?" Vincent revved his engine and drove off.

After a few minutes the two arrived outside a wooden building with peeling white paint. Rebecca climbed off the bike and looked at the sign over the door way. "Retro Burgers?"

"The last place in the city to get a real burger, and I really mean a real one." Vincent held out his hand to the door. "After you." The two entered the dinner and Rebecca was with hit with a strong sent of meat and gravy. "Strong, isn't it?" Rebecca nods. "Come on, this way." Vincent lead her to a booth and then took a seat across from her.

Rebecca looked around the dinner, the walls were a light green with black and white pictures on them. Large fans hung from the roof to fight against the heat as people ate and talked, the voices blurred together making it impossible to understand them.

"Hello!" A waiter greeting the two pulled Rebecca out of her thoughts. "Welcome to Retro Burgers! You two ready to order?"

Vincent claps his hands. "Yes. I'll take the double and an older one for Rebecca here."

"Alright, be back in a bit!" The waiter tapped a spots in the air and walked away.

Rebecca turns to Vincent. "What's an older one?"

"A really good burger. It's your first time here so you gotta have the best for a first impression." Vincent glanced around to spot the cameras in each corner. "Okay. While we wait let's go over something with Brain Burst."

"What is it?"

"Why everyone is so keen on getting points." Vincent holds up three fingers. "On my command say burst link and you'll see."

"Okay." Rebecca watched Vincent's fingers go down one after the other. "Burst link." The color of the world around them took on a blue tint, Rebecca saw her body next to her then glanced to Vincent who also sat next to his body as well.

"Weird, isn't it?" Vincent pointed to the people in the dinner. Rebecca saw that no one moved. "This is what Brain Burst can do." Vincent stood up and waved for Rebecca to follow. The game can use the cameras to create a 3D world for us to walk in. Study what's happening and plan your next action."

"What about things that aren't in the cameras?" Rebecca looked under a table to see only darkness. "This is so strange."

"Just be careful with it. A point is used up each time it's used." The two returned to their seats as time moved once again. "What do you think?"

Rebecca patted her chest. "It's unsettling with how it works. Though I see the benefits in it now."

"It's that kind-" The world turned blue once again and began to break apart then reformed. The two looked at each other to find they were in there avatar forms.

"What happening?!"

Vincent ran outside to see that a large storm brewed overhead and rain seemingly poured down endlessly. "We got a fight." Vincent drew his sword. "Stay here." Vincent ran back inside and hid.

"Vinc-" Rebecca stopped herself. _"Right, no real names."_ She drew her gun and knife and watched the arrow as her foe drew closer.

Two red avatars closed in on Rebecca. One had a rifle resting on their shoulder, the other carried a two handguns. "Now that's a cool looking avatar."

"Th-thank you?"

"You nervous? This your first time playing?" The two avatars drew closer and Rebecca held up her gun. "Careful there girl, you might hurt someone." The red avatar with the rifle raised their gun, pointed at Rebecca. "How about you put that gun down and tell us your name."

 _"Vincent..."_ As if hearing her Vincent burst out from the building and sliced the avatar in half.

"Charge Shot!" Vincent held out his blaster to incinerate the avatar. He then turned to the remaining avatar, slowly and silently walking towards them.

"Oh shit... Eminence Tyrant!" The avatar dropped their rifle and held out their hands. "Listen man, we didn't know-"

"Oh you did know? Did you not look at the top of your fucking sight to see the name? Do you have tunnel vision that bad?"

"Listen. We didn't mean anything, we had only the best intentions-" Vincent raised his blaster and shot the avatar in the leg causing them to scream.

"Sorry did I break you concentration? I didn't mean to do that." Vincent shot the avatar in the arm. "Please continue, you were say something about 'beat intentions' right?" The avatar stayed silent. "You were finished? Well allow me to retort." Vincent shot the avatar until his blaster overheated. The avatar still had health left so Vincent plunged his sword into their head.

The battle was over and the two returned to the real world. "Well, that was something." Vincent reached his hand out to hold Rebecca's hand. "You okay?"

"Yes. Thank you Vincent."

"You want to do another one?"

"How do I do that?"

"Open the game and go to the matchmaking list and pick a name."

"Okay." Rebecca did as she was told and started another fight.

The world was reshaped and the building they were in changed into a cave. The pair exited the cave to see they were in a decaying forest. Vincent checked the names of their enemies. "A red and blue. Which do you want?"

A missile rose into the sky and started to turn towards the two Vincent grabbed onto Rebecca and spun her around to the incoming missile. "Green!"

"Prism Shift Green!" Rebecca's body shined a bright green as it changed its shape. Two shields formed on both of her arms and a large turtle shell appeared on her back. The missile crashed into Rebecca's back, barely denting her health.

A blue avatar burst out of the trees with a pair of axes and missile launcher wielding red behind them. The red avatar fired another at Rebecca, striking her back and still doing minimal damage. "Get the red, keep your guard up!" Vincent ran out from Rebecca's cover and fired on the blue avatar.

When the two got closer the avatar jumped at Vincent with their axes raised. Vincent held up his sword to catch the axes then kicked the avatar in the chest.

Rebecca ran towards the red avatar. The red loaded another missile and fired at Rebecca. She held up her arms to block the attack. The missile's force stopped Rebecca momentary but not long enough to load another missile and swung their weapon at her.

Rebecca batted away the missile launcher with her shield then followed with a punch to the face. The red staggered back into a tree as Rebecca kept punching. The avatar caught Rebecca's fist and threw a punch of their own. Rebecca held up her shield to block the punch and shoved the shield against the avatar's head.

Staggered again Rebecca stepped back. "Prism Shift Blue!" Rebecca's body changed its color to blue as her shields disappear and her limps grew three times bigger. After seeing the transformation the avatar tired to run away, Rebecca grabbed the avatar with one hand and held them up, punching their head clean off.

With the red down Rebecca turned to Vincent seeing he was backing away from the blue avatar as he blocked the axe strikes. Rebecca rushed to the blue avatar's back and grabbed them by their legs. She slammed them into the ground and hurled them into a tree.

"Charge Shot!" Vincent fired a large beam to finish the foe. The fight was over and the two returned to the dinner once again. Vincent smiled widely at Rebecca. "Look at you. Taking people down in your first real fight. Proud of you Rebecca."

"Really?" Rebecca lowers her gaze and she brushes her hair back. "Thank you Vincent."

"Hey. Call me V."

"Okay." Rebecca smiled but kept her gaze down.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I..." Rebecca raised her head. "It was, actually fun."

"Told you, ripping someone's head off is very therapeutic."

Rebecca gasped. "That avatar! I, I punched his head off! The, the phantom pain!"

"Rebecca!" Vincent grabbed her hand again. "It's fine. This pain is just apart of the game. They knew what it means to fight and you saw what were fighting for. Getting points to get to higher levels and to spend them on bursting."

"Levels?"

"Since you've just started you're level one. I'm three."

"Still..."

Vincent patted her hand. "Don't think about it, okay? If anything you gave him or her a splitting head for the day."

"How is this game kept a secret?"

Vincent shrugged as he leaned back. "No idea. I looked online almost every night for two weeks. It's like fight club, everyone took a vow of silents."

"Fight club?"

Vincent leaned forward again. "You don't know fight club?" Rebecca shook her head. "That is unacceptable. When we get back we're watching it."

"Okay." Rebecca nods and the waiter came back with their food.

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	16. Shattered Sapphire

Chapter. 16

It was late afternoon when Vincent and Rebecca walked out of Rebecca's home Vincent climbed onto his bike and picked up one of his helmets. "Thank you Vincent. I like the burger and the movie suggestions. I had fun with you today."

"Anytime Rebecca, I-" Rebecca leaned forward and held Vincent in a tight hug. Vincent smiled lightly and patted her back. "Anytime Rebecca." Vincent lowered his arms as Rebecca let go. "Call me for anything you need."

"Okay!" Vincent nods and he put on his helmet and drove to his own home. Once he left and was out of sight Rebecca waved her hand and started writing.

...

Returning to his house Vincent parked his bike in the garage and went inside. The house was empty to Vincent surprise, he shrugged as he went up stairs to his room. Stepping inside the world stopped and took on a blue tint. "What?" The world melted around him and turned into a field of magma. "What happened? No one should be able to challenge me here?"

"Tyrant!" Vincent spun around to see Sapphire Brawler with dozens of avatars around him in the spectates area. "Funny seeing you again, isn't it?"

"What's going on?!" Vincent drew his sword.

"You think you can destroy a whole legion and get away with it? It's time for you to pay for your actions!"

A blue avatar ran up to Vincent with a great sword. The avatar raised the sword and cut Vincent in half. Vincent sidestepped the blade and cut off the avatar's hands then followed with slicing off their head.

With the fight over the world returned to normal then turned blue instantly, changing to an open arena in the sky. Vincent drew his sword again as a green avatar ran at him with a large tower shield. Vincent struke the shield with his sword but was immediately pushed back. Vincent glanced behind him to see he was being shoved to the edge. Vincent leaped out the way but as he stood up the avatar bashed him down with their shield.

The avatar grabbed Vincent by the leg and dragged him to the edge. Vincent raise his blaster to shoot by the avatar barely flinched from the shots. He swung his sword by the shield was in the way. As the got closer Vincent glanced at his leg. "This is gonna hurt." Vincent swung his sword, this time cutting off his own leg. The avatar staggered at the loss of weight it was dragging and saw what happened.

"That hurt! That hurt!" Vincent writhed on the ground in pain as he slammed his fist into the dirt. The avatar grabbed Vincent's other leg as the Tyrant turned to them. "Royal Cut!" Vincent threw his sword into the avatar's head. "Blaster, Beam!" Vincent's blaster beeps as its firing setting changed, the weapon was training on the green avatar's chest and fired a continues beam of orange light. The weapon overheated but it burned a hole through the enemy's chest, causing them to fall back.

The fight was over and Vincent breathed a sigh of relief, by was quickly ruined as the world returned to normal and again instantly changed to another battlefield, this time on a cliff over looking the sea. Vincent drew his sword but fell to one knee. "Damn it! That escape is gonna cost me. How is this happening?"

"Are you still not getting it? Shouted Sapphire Brawler. "Maybe after this you'll get it." An image appeared before him, it was of the LA Brain Burst territory map with on area circled in red. His home territory was blue.

"No... How-" Vincent was kicked in the face by a yellow avatar. He stayed down as the avatar got closer. They kicked away his sword and grabbed him by the neck, Vincent quickly raised his fist and punched the avatar in the chest, his blaster fired a beam to pierce through their body.

The world returned to normal then changed again to another arena. With each fight the pain from all the previous fights were reemerged, making Vincent weaker for every fight.

With each attack Vincent was losing strength and started losing his fights until each encounter became less of a fight and more of a beating.

Vincent's breath was ragged from the collective pain. Every fight was making him worse for the next. He barely had the strength to stand when he saw the name of his next opponent.

Sapphire Brawler stood before him and cracked his knuckles. "Time for a personally beat down."

"So this was your plan? Make the legion fight your battle for you?"

"I could easily take you down and out Tyrant. I just did this morning. Amber was a close friend of mine and now that you took Brain Burst from him... I'd be wrong to not let the former amber members of my legion get a change to get even."

Sapphire Brawler punched Vincent in the face to sent him flying back. Vincent tried to stand up and was struke again, throwing him further away and sliding along the ground to chip away at his health.

Sapphire stood over Vincent as he pushed himself up. He raise his fist and punched Vincent in the back then kicked him over. Vincent rose up on one knee with hand over his chest. "If this is what makes you feel powerful. Then you're truly the weakest."

Sapphire lifted Vincent up over head and then hurled into the concrete wall, breaking through it. Vincent entire body ached, his mind couldn't focus. He looked at his health see only a sliver remained.

"This is the best opal has to offer?!" Sapphire Brawler raises his arms to the everyone watching. "This player may have dethroned Amber but is defiantly not one of the opal's elites!" Sapphire lowered his arms and turned to Vincent. "Seems Teal Assassin's Intel was off the mark."

Realization washed over Vincent as everything fell into place. Teal Assassin told them he would be here. Catherine told them he would be here. Vincent was in this mess because of Catherine. He had a week long feud with Amber Demotion because Catherine lead him into their region. All of the pain and headaches from Brain Burst were came from Catherine giving him this game.

"Catherine. Catherine. Catherine. Catherine." Vincent repeated to himself. He pushed himself up but barely raised from the ground before he fell again. "Everything. Everything is... Catherine." Anger started to bubble within him. He tried again to push himself up, he rose to his knees and grabbed his sword. "I WILL get out of this. I WILL kill Sapphire Brawler. I WILL find Catherine." Vincent rose up on his feet and used his sword to keep himself standing. "AND I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!"

Sapphire Brawler turned back to Vincent. "You're still conscious?" Sapphire struke his fists together. "Good. Maybe Teal wasn't fully wrong."

Hearing Teal again Vincent's body twitched and he snapped, in that moment his anger over took him and became unrestrained rage. He forgot about the pain in his body and limped towards Sapphire Brawler, then walked, then ran, full out sprint.

Sapphire ran to meet Vincent, the Tyrant swung his sword and Sapphire held up his arm to block. Vincent's sword sliced through Sapphire's arm with ease. "What?!" Sapphire stepped back as he held his severed arm.

Vincent ducked and cut off Sapphire's leg. As he fell Vincent hold out his blaster and fired into the Brawler's face as he lunged his sword into sapphire's chest, twisted the blade and sliced though the body, spilling blood and metal.

Sapphire feeling the dirt as he screamed in agony but Vincent didn't listen. Sapphire Brawler started to speak but Vincent couldn't hear him, all he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears, all he could see was red. Vincent thrusted his blade into sapphire's remaining hand and aimed his blaster at Brawlers head. "CHARGE SHOT!" A giant beam emerged from the blaster, larger then normal then disintegrated Sapphire's upper body and made a tunnel in the ground.

The battle was over and world shifted back to normal. Vincent fell to his knees as the phantom pain caught up to him and his senses returned to him. "What happened? I..." Vincent lost control of his body and fell to the floor. "I was fighting... Sapphire... Teal... Catherine..." Vincent's eyes grew heavy, his mind was exhausted. Unable to move he passed out on his floor.

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	17. Unlimited Burst

Chapter. 17

The fallowing morning Vincent drove to the library faster then normal, even running a few red lights. He stopped outside the library and barely came to a stop when jumped off his bike, throw his helmet down as he walk to the front door.

Catherine stepped outside and saw Vincent walking towards her. "Vinny! Great work yesterday! You've imer-"

Vincent punched Catherine in the nose, causing her to stagger back. "Now that was-" Vincent punched Catherine again, this time sending her to the ground. Catherine held her nose and found blood.

"You fucking sold me out!" Catherine stood up and Vincent punched her again.

Catherine covered her eye as she looked up. "Would you like to know why or keep hitting me?" She smiled through the pain.

Vincent raised his fist when a massage appear. He tapped it with the side of his hand.

 **Tyrant come to the unlimited field. Teal will show you the way. Opal.**

Vincent glared down at Catherine. "Explain."

"You want to talk now?" Catherine lowers her hand to show the injuries he's done. "I think you own me something now." Vincent only glared at her. "Say sorry and we can move on to important matters."

Vincent turned and walked away. Catherine crossed her arms. "Is your pride that big that you wouldn't say sorry to someone you hurt?" Vincent didn't stop. "Opal doesn't like to be kept waiting Vinny!" Catherine grinned as she ran to catch up to him, taking out a cloth for her nose. "Okay, okay. I'll let you off the hook this time, but I won't be so nice about this." Catherine lowered the cloth to check the blood. "You're lucky you didn't break anything, I need my nose."

"Of course you do you fucking whore."

Catherine took out a cord from her bag. "You'll need this." Vincent glared at her. "The unlimited field is a place you need to be at level four to get to. you're level three so you need me, like you always do, to get there."

Vincent still didn't move and Catherine groaned. "If I let you punch me-" Vincent punched her in the eye again. Catherine stood up and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "Better yet?"

"No." Vincent grabbed the cord and connected it to his neuro linker. Catherine smiled as she connected the cord to her neuro linker, causing Vincent to tighten his fists. "now then, Unlimited Burst!"

The world broke apart around them, the two were changed into their duel avatar forms while the city around them was rebuilt into a burned down counter part under a black sky.

"This way Vinny." Catherine walked towards the building in front of them when Vincent shot her in the back. Catherine fell to her knees and watched Vincent walk past her. "Good, get angry Vinny. Get angry and stay angry." Catherine stood up and walked with Vincent.

On the roof they found an avatar in a shining white armor and a grey shoulder cape over its left arm. The avatar turned to them with green eye lenses. _"The clock is nice but Rebecca's armor is better."_ Vincent retraced his thoughts. _"Why did I think about that?"_

"Hello again Teal. Welcome Tyrant, to the unlimited field. I am Opal Commander."

"Why am I here?"

"I like that about you Tyrant, straight to the point. To start I'd like to say, on behalf of the opal legion. Thank you for defeating Sapphire Brawler, destroying his legion and giving us their land."

"What?"

Opal Commander stepped closer to Vincent. "Sapphire's days were numbered. He wouldn't have lasted much longer, but we didn't think you'd have beaten him."

Vincent clinched his fists. "So you fucking threw me to the fucking wolfs? For what? A joke? A laugh? For the fucking LOLs?! Vincent held up his blaster at Opal. "I'm sick of your fucking games! Tell me what's happening, what your goal is, and why are you doing this."

Opal Commander giggled. "You would raise your hand against the one wielding the ban hammer?"

"What?"

"When you join a legion its leader has a power called judgement blow. Something for the leader to use on bad players. A close range attack to take all of your points. You know what happens after that, right?"

Vincent sighed and lowered his arm, Catherine watched the action in wondered. _"You hesitated? There's something you want to keep. Interesting."_

"I'll tell you after to pass a test of your power."

"So giving you two legions isn't enough?"

"I wanted to test you after you defeated Amber but Teal had other plans and wanted to hold on it."

"And you're fine with what she did to me!? You just blindly fallow this fucking thot!?" Vincent noticed Catherine twitch at his final word.

"If you fell then you fell. Only the strong can stay in this game, but you didn't fall. You defeated Amber and gave us their land. You defeated Sapphire and gave us their land as well." Opal Commander reached out to hold Vincent's shoulder but Vincent swatted her hand away. "You have power, great power. Now it's time for you to prove it."

"Again, giving you two legions wasn't enough?"

"It's good but I want to see if you can do more." A large monster walked past the building the three avatars. The monster was pale grey and stood on hind legs with long arms it had dozens of eyes on his face with tentacles hanging from where its mouth would be. Opal Commander points to the wondering creature. "That is an enemy, monster that walk this world. You will fight that enemy alone."

Vincent stands on the ledge to see the enemy. "Lovecraft wants his monster back."

Opal spins to Vincent, pulling her clock over her arm. "To run a legion, order is needed. To keep order a ranking must be made. Right now you're a pawn, you're only goal is to fight for the legion in the weekend battles. If you can't last a minute against an enemy that's what you'll remain as."

"Alright."

"If you last a minute, you'll be a square, able to lead in the weekend three on three battles. Last three minutes and you'll be a knight, you'll have position in the war room to decide the course of action in leading the opal legion."

"What happens when I kill it?" Catherine and Opal started laughing. Vincent clinched his fists. "Don't underestimate my strength."

Opal spoke when the two calmed down. "Teal lasted four minutes. Try to aim for that."

Vincent turned back to the stairs and walked outside, he pointed his blaster at the enemy and fired a few shots to get its attention. The enemy turned to Vincent as it swung it arms and swatted his away. Taking a third of his health.

"Don't think you can get rid of me that quickly fucker..." Vincent pushed himself up and drew his sword. With some energy in his special gauge Vincent aimed his baster at the beast's head. "Charge Shot!" A large beam struke the enemy in the face but the monster didn't slow down.

With his blaster overheated Vincent ran from the enemy but its long arm knocked Vincent away again, taking another third of his health.

The enemy raised its hands and slammed them onto the ground, Vincent stood up and leaped back to dodge but was pushed back from the shock wave. As Vincent struggled to stay on his feet the enemy got closer and raised its hands again. _"It's doing the same attacks?"_ Vincent leaped back to dodge, this time to plunged his sword into the ground to to keep from being blown back.

 _"It's an AI, not a player. I need to think like I'm fighting an AI. Fixed patterns, fixed actions, attack ques."_ Vincent took a deep breath to calm himself. _"Breath in, focus. Everything can be broken down into a science."_ The enemy swung its arm low and Vincent jumped to evade but his timing was to short and was struke in the legs by the enemy's hand and sent sliding a along the ground.

Low on health Vincent stood up and held his blaster at then enemy. "You think I'm scared of you?! You're just a bunch of zeros and ones! You're nothing to me!" Vincent fired his blaster, hitting the enemy's face. "Fight me bitch!" The monster lowered its arm, grinding it against the ground to swipe at Vincent. "Royal Cut!" Vincent held his sword low then swung upward to slice off the enemy's arm.

"I'm gonna fucking eat you!" Vincent raised his blaster and fire into its face again. The enemy stood up on its hind leg to drop its body on Vincent. The tyrant ran towards the monster and slid under it as he fired at its chest. Once behind the monster Vincent stood up and raise his sword. "Royal Cut!" Vincent swung his blade down to cut off one of its legs.

The enemy spun around to struke Vincent with its remaining leg. Vincent back-flipped over the leg and ducked when he saw its arm coming for him. Vincent backed away from the monster as he fired at its face till his blaster overheated. The enemy raised its hand to crush Vincent who dove out of the way of the attack.

Under the enemy's head Vincent rolled on to his body and held up his blaster. "Charge Shot!" The beam struck into the monster's chin. "Fucking die already!" The beam grew larger and pierced into the enemy's head and broke through its skull.

The monster's body turned a bright green then shattered into data. Vincent stood up and sheathed his sword as he walked towards the building where Opal and Catherine waiting. Reaching the roof Vincent kicked the door down and stared at the two. "So... what happens when I kill it?"

Opal glance to Catherine then nods. "I think it's time we meet in the real world."

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	18. The Gallants

Chapter. 18

Vincent and Catherine fell to the ground as the returned to the real world, Vincent's entire body hurt while Catherine held her back. "Forgot to mention, you feel more pain in the unlimited field."

Vincent wanted to to punch Catherine but raising his arm only flared up his phantom pain. He stood up as he ripped the cord out of him linker. "Where's Opal?"

Catherine stood up and dusted herself off. "Follow me Vinny." Catherine opened the front door for them to walk in, she lead Vincent to the back of the library to a door labeled for employees only. Catherine took out a key to opened the door. Walking down a hall they stopped at another labeled opal.

Catherine opened the door and Vincent entered a lounge with four other people in it, all of which looked to be the same age as Vincent. Each of them looked up to see Vincent come in except for one brunette haired girl wearing a dark blue overcoat with white pants and black heeled boots drinking from a cup of tea and waved her finger to turn a page on a virtual book hovering in front of her.

A girl with long blonde hair stood up to greet Vincent and Catherine, taking a moment to examine Vincent with her green. "So you're Eminence Tyrant?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Opal Commander. My real name is Jade." The young woman held out her hand.

Vincent looked the girl up and down, she wore a white sleeveless dress shirt with a black ribbon around her waist with black shorts and shoes and an opal neckless. Vincent returned her gaze as he shook her hand. "Jade. Real world or not you're named after a gemstone."

Jade nods with a warm smile. "Yes, quite the paradox no? I'm sorry you're name again was?"

"Vincent."

"Of course it is, you truly live up to the name. Thank you for everything you've done for the opal." Jade waved her hand over the others in the room. "Come, meet your new allies."

The next one to stand up was a girl with short black hair in a bob-cut with a purple streak on the left side and green eyes, she wore a black shirt under a green cardigan, a white knee length skirt and black stocking with purple sneakers. "I'm Corina, my avatar is Lilac Laser! Please, call me Coco!" The girl held out her hand.

Vincent slowly shook her hand, thrown off by her bubbly personally. "I'll do just, uh, Coco."

Coco jumped the only over male in the room. "This is my boyfriend Lyle! His avatar is Turquoise Titan! Come on Lyle!" Corina pulled Lyle up by his arm.

A seven foot man with spiked black hair with sliver eyes stood up to meet Vincent. He wore a black shirt with a faded white checker board pattern at the hind, a sleeve less blue hoodie, navy blue jeans over grey high top shoes.

Lyle and Vincent stared at each other, not losing eye contact. Lyle nods and held out his hand. Vincent took Lyle's hand then shook it. Corina held her hands together. "They're already friends, that's so sweet!"

"Hello everyone!" Catherine come out from behind the door and entered the lounge.

"Hey Cathy, Cathy!" Corina saw the forming black eye and bloody nose on Catherine's face. "What happened to you?!"

"Just an accident. I fell off of Vinny's bike when-"

"I punched her in the face a few time when I got here." Everyone looked at Vincent in shock.

"Bitch deserved it I'm sure." The unnamed girl commented while reading her book. Corina backed away, rubbing her arms while Lyle clinched his fist as he stood between her and Vincent.

Jade coughs to get Vincent's attention back. "The last one is Lavender, Levi for short. Her avatar is Charterase Enchantress." Jade pointed to girl still sitting as she read her book. "Levi." Jade raised her voice.

The girl turns to Vincent looking him over with her brown eyes. She turns to Jade with a scowl. "I didn't know that we allowed your favorite's pet in."

"You wanna retract that bitch? I'm no one's pet." Vincent took a step closer to her.

"We'll see in the next few months." Levi glances to Catherine. "That you don't come out of the rooms with that husy." Levi turned back to Vincent. "Don't think your all that just because you took down a couple of wounded animals.

Vincent gave Levi a sideways glance. "What's that mean?"

Jade rested a hand on Vincent's arm. "Now that your one of us it's time you learned the truth." Everyone returned to their seats, Vincent sat on a sofa across from Jade and Catherine sat next to him. "Catherine took you into the amber legion to see how well you'd do against a leader."

"How did she know he'd be there?"

"Have you looked at Catherine's profile?"

"Why?"

Catherine gasped as she placed her hand over her heart. "Do I mean so little to you-"

"Yes." Catherine pouted while Vincent ignored her. "As you were saying." Vincent noticed Corina avoiding his gaze when Lyle stared him down.

Jade sighed. "If you looked you'd see that Catherine isn't a member of the opal legion, or any legion. This let's her act as a spy for us. Catherine collects and sells information to each legion and brings the big info to us, though to keep up appearances she does have to give out minor details about the opal."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"Amber demotion was a stubborn sort, much like yourself, unable to let go of a loss. His fight with you in the weekend battle happened because Catherine told him that area you'd be fighting in was the weakest. Your one in hundred chance to fight him was actually a one in three."

Vincent tightened his fists. "And my home falling into the sapphire's hands?"

"I let it fall, Catherine request-"

Vincent shot up to his feet. "You threw me to the fucking wolves! And for what?!"

"Vincent!" Corina shouted to the Tyrant. "We were sent to help if it got too bad! We fought with Sapphire Brawler many time to drain his points. Losing to you would've taken the rest of them and it did."

Jade nods. "Catherine wanted to test your limits and push them to make you stronger, and it worked.

"Do you remember the power you felt when you cut Sapphire to bits?" Asked Catherine.

"What power? I felt... uh, I felt..." Vincent raised his hand to his head. "I don't remember. I was so angry when I heard him say Catherine's avatar name then..." Vincent shook his head. "After that it was all red and loud ringing."

Jades nods with a smirk. "Then you did feel it, you don't know how but you felt it."

"Felt what?"

"As the leader of the opal legion I here by make you a gallant." Vincent tilts his head questioningly. "You stand about the the average players of Brain Burst. Above the top members of the opal and stand with the hidden tier. The gallants."

"So he'll be one of us?" Asked Corina.

"Would Jade bring him here if she wasn't you airhead?" Levi snapped without looking at anyone. Causing Corina to pout.

"Anyone going to answer me?!" Vincent shouted. "What did I feel? What are you talking about? And what's a gallant?"

Jade holds up her hand. "The gallants are the secret hunters for the opal legion. Your tasks are not to worry about the weekend battles but to find and defeat targets of interest. Strong enemy players and other legion leaders. Fight them and destroy them until they have no more points left."

"Alright." Vincent returned to his seat.

"Then it's time we all returned to the unlimited field. Vincent, if you are to join the gallants then you will need to learn a power fitting for the role." Jade leans forward with a cord in her hands. "It's time you learned the incarnate system."

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	19. Incarnate System

Chapter. 19

Everyone arrived in the unlimited field which resembled a desert with each building made of stone. Before Vincent stood Teal assassin and Opal Commander along with three more avatars.

The first was Turquoise Titan, Lyle's dual avatar. A two story tall bright green avatar wearing dark blue bangles around his arms with a large dark green shield with gold engravings and a grey stone in the center resting on his left arm.

Vincent stepped back from the avatar towering over him. Not wanting to be crushed in the first minute.

The next burst linker was Corina's avatar hiding behind Titan's leg, Lilac Laser. A four foot tall purple avatar with pink eye lenses. Over her armor she wore a pink sleeveless over coat and small panels in her chest and on her palms and elbows. On the sides of her head were a pair of foot long pigtails. Corina looked over Vincent's armor, before she could walk up to him she was stopped by the Lyle.

Vincent thought the avatar looked cute but kept a safe distance just in case. Along with not upsetting the giant avatar guarding her.

Chartreuse enchantress, Levi's dual avatar. A bright yellow-green body with dark red eye lenses, connected to the armor was a witches hat and a clock that reached her ankles. Levi held a brown staff with a gold spike on both ends. Levi glanced to Vincent but made no effect to approach him.

Vincent felt uneasy from the avatar, something about the way it looked felt off to him. Giving him the same feeling from Opal Commander.

"These are your allies." Jade waves her hand over the avatars. "You'll be helping them as much as they'll be helping you to destroy the other legions."

"What is the opal legion going to do next?"

"We'll talk about that when we turn to the real world. For now we focus on the task at hand. The incarnate system."

"So what is the incarnate system?" Vincent felt annoyed for being brushed off.

Opal commander started to speak. "Normally, a burst linker's duel avatar is controlled by the neurolinker reading the person's brainwaves. Essentially, it reads activity in the brain's motor cortex while piping information to the brain's sensory cortex. This style of control is called 'control via physical order'.' You understand?"

"Yes." Vincent nods.

"There's a second, more difficult method to manipulating one's duel avatar called 'control via power to image'. Similar to willpower, it uses the burst linker's ability to strongly picture something happening to bring about a change in the environment. This is closer to using one's imagination, the neurolinker is able to read this information. This is the incarnate system."

Vincent crosses his arms. "Sounds interesting."

"The main use of the incarnate system is in battle."

"Obviously."

"By strongly picturing different ways to fight in your head, you can make that real. However, in pretty much all cases, these attacks are nothing that couldn't be done more easily by using tools your duel avatar already has."

"So why use it?"

"Incarnate-powered attacks cannot be defended by normal means; they can only be defended by incarnate-powered defenses, or countered by incarnate-powered attacks. This is their main use."

"And this is the power that I used on Sapphire Brawler?" Vincent raised his left hand to his chin to think. "So where did you learn this power, it wasn't in any of the tutorials."

Catherine snicked. "It not in them because its not a normal function. It's a secret system very few know about."

"Of course you'd find a way to cheat." Vincent glared at Catherine.

"No idea what you're talking about."

"Regardless." Jade spoke up. "You will need to learn it-"

"What for? Because to me it sounds like you all can't win on your own so you need to cheat."

"You're one to talk."

Vincent spun to Levi. "You got something to say?"

"Tell me, how did you beat sapphire again?" Vincent tightened his fists. "I thought so."

"Fucking bitch."

"Regardless!" Jade shouted. "The opal legion is now a large legion because of you Vincent. We don't know if the other legions have members who also know of the incarnate system. You will learn it but using it will be up to you. Think of it as an equalizer if you face someone with it."

Catherine nods. "See? Would you call it cheating if you both are doing it?" Vincent remained quiet. "I knew you'd come around."

"Time to start. In short the incarnate system is powered by your imagination. What's the first thing to come to your mind?"

Vincent returned to his thinking posture and closed his eyes. The first thing he saw was Rebecca standing beside him with a big smile, the next one was the two of them eating burgers, then the two of them in Rebecca's home. It was dark out and they sat in front of a fireplace. Vincent held Rebecca close as they watched the fire, Rebecca pushed herself off of Vincent and their eyes met, slowly closing as she drew closer.

"Vincent!" Catherine's voice snapped the tyrant back to reality. "What were you thinking? I called you four times."

"Nothing."

"Tch." Levi groaned. "So you spaced out. Do we really need someone this empty headed in our group?"

"You trying to start something bitch?" Stomped up to Levi. "You've been on my case since we met."

"You're nothing special, just a brute brought up by Catherine."

"Catherine gave me this game and that's it. Everything I've done was by my own strength." Vincent drew his sword. "Or would you like a demonstration?"

Levi turned to Vincent, looking him over. "I know everything about you just by your name, Eminence Tyrant. Eminence, as in recognized to be superior, especially within a particular profession. Tyrant, a cruel and oppressive ruler. Putting all that together it's clear you're just some thug."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know enough, you're Catherine's current pet." Vincent raised his blaster and fired at Levi. His weapon overheated but Levi remained unflinching as only a small portion of her health. "Did I hurt your feeling or are you mad that I upset your master?"

Vincent lunged at Levi as he swung his sword. Catherine jumped in between them and caught Vincent's blade with her daggers. "As much as I love the idea of you defending me, we need Levi right now."

"Shut the fuck up!" Vincent pulled back his sword and swung for Catherine's waist. Catherine lowered her daggers to caught the blade again.

"That anger, you know it so, so well. That's the fuel for the incarnate system." Catherine shoved Vincent back to separate then pointed to a boulder. "That power comes from rage. Think of what makes you mad, what do you hate?" Asked Catherine.

"What do I hate?" Vincent's fists tightened. _"Tell me what I don't hate!"_ Vincent held up his blaster and fired at the boulder. _"I hate Catherine! I hate Jade! I hate the whole damn opal legion!"_ Vincent fired into the boulder, each shot burning its surface. _"I hate my fencing team! I hate my school! I hate the people on the street!"_ The laser from the baster started to cut into the boulder. _"Humanity is just a big fucking shit pile of parasites!"_ The blaster's barrel shined with power.

A massive beam launched from the blaster, larger then the one before. The beam connected with the boulder and liquidized it. "I, hate, EVERYTHING!" As soon as he said these words a smiling Rebecca pop up in his head. Vincent lost his focus and the beam pattered out.

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	20. Our avatars

Chapter. 20

"Cleanse!" Vincent held out his blaster and fired a massive beam, vaporizing the building in front of him. _"I hate everyone and everything. Burn it all!"_ Rebecca appeared in Vincent's mind again and his beam died down. Vincent had spent four days in the unlimited field trying to learn the incarnate system. Lyle and Corina left after one day of watching. Levi stuck around for another day before she left as well. Leaving only Catherine and Jade to help him.

"What's the problem?" Asked Catherine. "You can start the attack but you can't keep it going."

Jade stepped up to speak. "You need to have an image and to hold it. It seems like you can make an image to start but something is keeping you from holding it."

"What are you thinking about?"

"How much I hate everything." Vincent tightened his fists.

"Then why can't you keep thinking about it?"

Vincent groaned. "Let's stop for now, I'm starting to get a headache."

Jade sighed. "Fine, but when you reach level four you better be coming to the unlimited field to practice and prefect the incarnate system. That's an order."

"Understood." The three headed for an exit point and returned to the real world.

They awoke up in reality to see Levi, Corina, and Lyle waiting for them.

"Finally." Levi huffed. "Now can we get back to why we're here?"

Catherine wrapped her arm around Vincent's. "You saying meeting my man isn't good enough of a reason for you?" Vincent turned to Catherine with a murderess stare. Causing her to let go.

"No. I have summer homework to do."

"Oh god don't remind me." Catherine laid back on the sofa then looked to Lyle and Corina. "How about you two?"

"We finished it all in the first week." Answered Corina.

 _"Shit! Brain Burst took up so much of my time I forgot about it."_ Vincent stood up and walked out.

"What's up Vinny?" Catherine watched him leave as he kept quiet.

Outside Vincent saw his helmet on the ground and picked it up. _"Wonder if Rebecca is doing any better."_ Climbing onto his bike Vincent opened his contacts and called her, getting an response in a few seconds.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rebecca, it's V."

"Hey Vincent! How are you?"

Vincent smiled, hearing her voice caused his chest to feel lighter. "I'm good. I called cause I wanted to check on you. How's your summer work going?"

"It's okay I do a little at a time. I have most of it done now."

"How about we get together and get it all done? I'll come by and pick you up, help you with your work and you can see what mine is and be ready for next year."

"Okay! I'm at home right now!"

"On my way." Vincent hung up and drove off.

...

Vincent arrived outside of Rebecca's house just as she was running out. "Someone's in a hurry."

"Hello Vincent!"

"Hey Rebecca, you ready?"

"Ready?"

"We're going to my place. My sister's home and you haven't lived to you had her cooking."

"Okay." Rebecca climbed on the bike and Vincent drove home, slower then normal for Rebecca's comfort.

...

Reaching his house Vincent pulled up the garage. Tuning off the engine Vincent and Rebecca climbed off the bike then entered the house. "Hey sis you here!"

"I'm here Vince stop shouting!" Elizabeth walked out of the living room to greet her and stopped in her track when she saw Rebecca. "Hello."

"Hello, I'm Rebecca."

"I'm Elizabeth. Thank you for looking after my brother."

"No, no. It's Vincent that looks after me."

Vincent grins as he shakes his head. "My room up the stairs and third door down the hall. I'll get us some water and we'll get started."

"Okay, thank you." Rebecca nods and walks up the stairs.

"Seriously Vince, how many girls are you going to bring home?"

Vincent ignored her and two water bottles. "Call us when lunch is ready."

"Asshole! Don't ignore me!"

Vincent didn't respond and went upstairs. Opening the Rebecca turned away from his computer and to him. "Nice right? Built it myself."

"You have a nice room Vincent."

"Thank you. Maybe you could show me yours sometime."

"I, I don't know, I mean-"

Vincent let out a light laugh. "It was a joke Rebecca." Vincent handed her a water bottle and sat on his bed. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Yes!" Rebecca sat at Vincent's deck, hiding her face from him.

The two opened their linkers to begin.

Three hours had passed, Rebecca was putting the finishing touches on her work while Vincent in the middle of his. Whenever he got stuck Vincent would glance over to Rebecca, calming his nerves and give him the boost he needed to focus.

As he worked Vincent would look at Rebecca more and more. As he watched he started to pick up on her habits, her typing had more flourish when she was in a good mood or when she would keep brushing her hair past her ears when she was frustrated, at which point Vincent would get up to help her.

Wanting to take a break Vincent lowered everything from his view, just as he was about to shut off his linker he saw the Brain Burst icon. He thought back to early that day when he learned the incarnate system. "Hey Rebecca, how's your Brain Burst life going?"

Rebecca waved her hands down to lower her programs then spun to Vincent. "It's been fun. Though I still don't like hurting people in the real world."

"You ever think about your avatar's name?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our dual avatars are made by our fears and desires. It's like we're wearing our weakness." Vincent thought back to what Levi told him. "My name is Eminence Tyrant. Eminence means proven superior and tyrant is a bad ruler."

"What does it all mean?"

Vincent held his hands together and glanced to his fencing swords. "Eminence, proven to be superior. I'm the best on the fencing team. Everyone can see it but I wasn't made the captain because I'm not a people person."

"What's the tyrant part?"

"A bad leader. I always thought about what would be best for the team as a whole, not what was best for each person. I always thought that being a leader is about what people needed not what they wanted." Vincent let out a long sigh. "So that's my avatar. It's not enough that I'm better then everyone, I want everyone to know it." Vincent laughed dryly. "A selfish body for a selfish person."

"... not true."

Vincent heard Rebecca mutter to herself as she looked at the floor. "So what about your avatar? What makes you Prism Rose?"

"I don't know how the whole system works."

"Tell me about your life at home then. If you can."

"My parents are both doctors, I only see them four times a week. They want me to study up so I can be like them."

"Do you want to be a doctor?"

"I don't know. My Aunt is a lawyer and she wants me to be one too. My cousin owns a business and he's been showing me how it works."

"Do you want to do any of those things?"

"I don't know. I don't want to let anyone down so I study as hard as I can to learn about each field."

"You'll burn yourself out if you keep think like that. Though all of that, let's see." Vincent raised his hand to his chin as he stared up at the ceiling. "You study to keep up with the demand, that's blue. You're goal is to not let your family down, that's red. Together that's purple. You tell each of them you want to go into their workplace, deceiving, that's yellow. You do it to protect them, that's green."

Vincent snaps his fingers. "Add them all together and it makes white. White has no combat ability on its own. So by trying to everything you end up as nothing. Colorless. A prism."

"I'm worthless." Rebecca sinked back into her chair while she held her arms.

"I didn't say that. You know the tarot cards?"

"Sort of."

"At the start of the cards is the fool which is zero. It's empty, but has limitless potential. That's what your avatar is, it starts with nothing but can become any other color." Rebecca silently looked up at Vincent. "you're avatar has great potential and beauty."

"And great hideousness."

"A dark desire... So what do you want to do?"

"What?"

"Forget what your family wants, what is it you want to do for yourself?"

"I can't just tell them no."

"Of course you can! My parents wanted me and sis to go into real estate but I told them no I want to go into professorial fencing, sis wants to go into programming. Were they upset? yes. However they were understanding. We all have our dream, the things we want to do. If you don't chase your dreams then what's the point of living. Working some nine to five? That's not living, that's surviving."

"I..."

"So what is it you want to do? How do you want to live?"

"I, I..." Rebecca started to choke up as tears rolled down her face. "I don't know." Rebecca covered her face and began to cry. "I don't know!"

"Rebecca..." Vincent was at a loss for words seeing her break down and cry. _"It works for sis when she crys."_ Vincent stood up, he grabbed Rebecca's arms, pulling her to her feet and held her.

"I'm sorry... I don't know. I'm-"

"Shh. It's okay. I've got you." Rebecca threw her arms around Vincent waist and cried into his chest. _"You've been keeping this in for a long time, haven't you."_ Vincent gently ran his fingers though her hairs. It smelled like pine trees, making him think of winter.

After a couple of minutes Rebecca pulled back but still held onto Vincent as she looked up at him. "Thank you, Vincent."

"Call me V, and anytime." Rebecca and Vincent continued gaze at each other. Rebecca's heterochromica eyes were puffy from crying but to Vincent still found them to be enchanting.

Vincent leaned closer as Rebecca's eyes closed.

"Hey you two in there?!" Elizabeth pounded on the door, causing the two to separate. Elizabeth opened the door to step in. "Oh, you two are still dressed."

Vincent crossed his arm. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Do I need to, whatever. Lunch is ready you two. Come down if you can pull away from each other for more then an minute." Elizabeth laughed as she walked away.

Vincent turned to Rebecca. "You okay now?"

Rebecca wiped her eyes. "Yes, thank you, V."

"Anytime, Reby." Vincent rubbed her back and they went downstairs.

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	21. Probing Attack

Chapter. 20

"What's up Vinny?" Catherine watched Vincent leave as he kept quiet. Once he was gone Catherine turned back to everyone. "Well that was rude."

Jade crossed her arms and leaned back in the sofa. "Well then. What did everyone think?"

"Nothing special. A brute to be Catherine's attack dog."

Catherine smiled at Levi. "Don't be jealous, you can have one too. Just find someone you think will be a good fit and give them the game."

Levi rested her head on her hand. "I want a bodyguard, not a beast that would bite the hand of its master."

"Vincent is a bit rough around the edges but its loyal." Levi just stared at Catherine. "He complains but does what I tell him too."

"When you put something better for him to chew on in front of him you mean."

Lyle turned to Jade. "How did he do?" Everyone but Corina looked to Lyle when he finally spoke.

"The giant speaks!" Shouted Catherine.

After a moment Jade spoke again. "He killed the enemy on his own."

Lyle nods. "He's strong, but uncontrollable."

"And you Corina?"

Corina looked up to Lyle. "I trust Lyle's judgement."

Lyle placed a hand on Corina's head. "He won't hurt you."

"Thank you." Corina leaned on Lyle as she looked up to him.

"Awww." Catherine watched the happy couple. "So sweet. That'll be me and Vincent soon."

Levi grew sick of the sight before her and turned to Jade. "What's our next move?"

"Thanks to all of your collective efforts the opal legion is now a large legion. We're now under the watch of the others. If we start a fight with either topaz or ruby the other will come at us. It's better if we face them later then sooner."

"So are we going after the emerald legion?" Asked Corina.

"Yes. I want all of you to find its leader and kill them. Once all of its land is under the opal's control we'll be even larger then the ruby."

Catherine leaned back. "So what about Vincent?"

Jade nods to her. "I'll leave him to you. Be sure you tell him what he needs to know, also has he found someone to take as a child."

"I think so. Problem is he won't tell me anything."

"I'm sure its because of you clinging on to him like a parasite."

Catherine glared at Levi. "Well sorry not all of us have money to throw around, some of us need more old fashioned ways of getting what we want."

"By acting like a slut then yes, old fashioned." Levi snickered.

"As if someone who was born with everything would know how we normal people have to work for what we want."

"Stop it!" Jade snapped her fingers. "Catherine, find out who the emerald leader is. Levi you'll then find where they live. Lyle and Corina you'll find their habits and when they're out of the legion area."

"Business as usual." Said Lyle. "Anything else?"

"No. Everyone but Catherine are free to go now."

"Tch." Levi stood up and was the first one to leave.

"Shall we?" Corina stood up and swung the door open as she and Lyle left as well.

Now alone Catherine and Jade sat in silents until Jade spoke. "You need to find out if Vincent' has a child, and if so then find out who it is."

"Why the interest?"

"Vincent has a strong mind but cold heart. For him to give Brain Burst to anyone they would have to be someone he sees as strong and useful."

"Like mother, like son." Catherine grinned to herself. "You know, doing this head hunting for my grandchild will eat into my time looking for the emerald leader."

"Then I suggest you work fast, Teal Assassin."

Catherine laughed as she stood up. "Very well then, Opal Commander."

...

Outside the library the other gallants members

"So good to be out in the sun!" Corina stretched as she walked out. "Hey Lyle, you want go train with some other players?"

"Hm." Lyle nods.

"Levi you want to come too?"

"Why bother?" Corina stared at Levi with puppy eyes. "Please, we'll need more points when we fight emerald."

"Fine." Levi shrugged. "But you two will do the fighting."

"So like normal." Corina giggled.

"Besides, we need to get a feel for what the emerald legion has to offer." Point Lyle.

The three walked towards the parking lot to find Lyle's truck, a sliver chevy silverado.

...

Driving into the emerald legion's area Lyle pulled up to a park, the three exited the truck and turned on their linkers. Almost immediately being challenged.

The world around the gallants changed into one made of steel. Arrows pointed to a red avatar with a shoulder mounted laser cannon and two blue avatars, both armed with swords to varying lengths. They slowly separated as they drew closer to the gallants, one armed with a greatsword rushed towards Corina but was stopped by Lyle.

Lyle swung his hand low and grabbed the avatar, crushing it in his grip.

A blue avatar wielding a short sword also tried to attack Corina. Corina detached the pigtails from her head, a slit opened on top of the pigtails then blades made of purple light extended from them.

The avatar hesitated for a moment but charged at Corina anyway. Corina sliced her the avatar's blade in half with one of her energy swords then cut the avatar in half with the other.

The avatar is Lyle's grip raised their greatsword with one arm to strike him in the forearm. Lyle used his shield to slice off the avatar's head then dropped the body.

The remaining red avatar walked away as Lyle and Corina closed in on them. The red avatar charged their laser cannon for a few seconds then fired, Corina stood in front of the laser and fired her own from the panel on her chest, causing them to clash.

Two fourths of Lyle's folded in on itself on opponent ends and a long shaft extended from the center as Lyle took it off his arm, letting the shield form into a large battle axe.

Unable to stop the attack the red avatar could only watch as Lyle's axe split them in half.

The battle was over and the three returned to the real world. "That was a little easy." Commented Levi.

Corina crossed her arms and stared at Levi. "Too easy that you didn't feel the need to help?"

"Yes." Levi checked the time while Corina pouted. "I have time for a few more before I need to get back."

Corina sighed. "Fine, but you're buying us ice cream when we're done!"

"No." Corina used her puppy eyes again. Causing Levi to roll hers. "Fine..."

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	22. Tag Teams

Chapter. 21

"We're here." Vincent parked his motorcycle outside a cafe and looked back to Rebecca. "You good?"

"I'm good." The two climbed off the bike and walked in. The cafe was a large lounge with stone walls covered with sheaves holding wooden carvings. The tables were made of glass with upholstered chairs around them.

Rebecca found a small table in the corner and sat down while Vincent ordered some sandwiches. "Vincent!"

Vincent spun around and hugged by Corina. "Hello Coco. Why are you-"

"What are you doing here? Fighting emerald?"

"Helping my child. Is Lyle here?" On quote Lyle stood behind Corina. Vincent and Lyle nod to each other and the three go to the table.

"Hey Reby, got some people for you to meet." Each of the burst linkers sat down around the table. "This is Rebecca, my child. She goes by Prism Rose."

"Hello." Rebecca waved to the couple.

"Happy to met you! I'm Corina, Lilac Laser, but please call me Coco." Corina pats Lyle's shoulder. "This is my boyfriend Lyle, Turquoise Titan." Lyle nods to Rebecca who smile brightly. "Prism Rose. That's a pretty name."

"Thank you."

"What brings you two here?" Asked Vincent.

"Fighting to get some points, the norm. You?"

"V is helping me get stronger."

"V?" Corina grins at Vincent.

Vincent rolled his eyes. "We should get started. Let's do some team fights and see what were up against."

Corina clapped her hands. "Oh! I wanna see Rebecca's avatar, we can team up!"

"I..."

"It'll be fun Reby! We can all do team battles. It'll help with friend building and stuff!"

Vincent leans back. "Alright. Just watch over her."

"You got it!" Corina gave Vincent a thumbs up then sent Rebecca a friend request. Rebecca accepted it and set Corina as her partner. "Alright! Girl power!" Corina opened Brian Burst and picked the first pair of names.

The world broke apart as the four were changed into their avatar forms. Corina and Rebecca stood in a field of snow with the northern lights above them. "The aurora stage, this on is so pretty."

"It's beautiful." Rebecca turned to an ice cliff to see Vincent and Lyle watching.

"Heads up Rose!" Corina spotted a metal and a green avatar walked through the snow, they stopped when Corina raised her hands. The metal avatar moved first and started to run. The panels on Corina's hands heated up and she fired lasers at the avatar but the shot barely chipped away at their health. Corina backed away as they were getting closer.

"Prism Shirt Blue!" Rebecca changed her color and she ran in front of the metal avatar. Rebecca punched the avatar in the chest and sent it flying back when dealing serous damage.

Corina stood beside Rebecca, looking her up and down. "You change colors?"

"More then that." Rebecca struke her fists together. "Prism Shift Red!" Rebecca's limbs returned to their normal sizes then changed again. Her body turned bright red as her right arm reformed into a laser cannon and her left became a minigun, on her back grew a missile launcher.

Rebecca walked towards the green avatar, pointing her laser cannon at them as it lit up. The green avatar clapped their hands together then holds them out to create a force field. Rebecca fired a beam of orange light at the force field as while she was getting closer.

The green avatar's force field started to turn red then shattered, Rebecca's laser struck the avatar for a second before the weapon overheated. The avatar staggered back from the beam, when they looked back to Rebecca she held up her minigun. The weapon spun to build up speed then unleashed a hail of bullets, the green avatar held up their arm for any protection from the bullets.

The minigun overheated and stopped firing, causing her to lower the weapon. "I got it!" Corina rushed at the green avatar while she shot it with her own lasers. Once she got close she took off her pigtails, become her energy swords to slash into the avatar. The avatar throw a punch but Corina ducked under it and sliced through the arm followed with a stab in the chest, the finished the avatar with a thrust through the neck.

Rebecca turned back to the metal avatar that got back on their feet and ran to her Rebecca smirked and launched a missile at the avatar. The missile crashed into the avatar and knocked them down. The avatar pushed themselves up to see two more missiles coming at them, ending the fight.

The real world rebuilt itself as the group returned to it. "That was awesome Reby!"

"Thank you."

"I mean it! I see why Vincent picked you, your power is amazing!"

Vincent clinched his fist, which Lyle noticed. "I gave Rebecca the game cause I wanted to help her build some confidence."

Lyle waved his hand down and waved his finger. A friend request appeared in front of Vincent. Vincent accepted the request then it was followed with a request to partner up. To which Vincent accepted again.

Rebecca and Corina watched the two wordlessly act before the world broke down again, rebuilt into one that was burned down. Vincent and Lyle stood ready as a red avatar wielding dual smgs. The avatar twirled the guns and opened fire. Before Vincent could act Lyle rushed up to the red avatar and swung his fist into it. The avatar turned to static and faded away. Bullets crashed into Lyle's back, he held up his shield against the bullets which came from the windows in a building.

"Blaster, beam!" Vincent shot a laser into the building's base pillars to cut them and bring the building crashing down. Two avatars jumped out of the building a red and a yellow. "Charge Shot!" Vincent released a large beam at the yellow avatar but it disappear as well. The red avatar crawled out of way of Vincent's attack then looked up to see Lyle's fist crushing them.

Vincent followed the arrow to see the yellow avatar atop another building. He raised up his blaster but it was overheated. "Lyle! Bring it down!" Vincent pointed to the building.

"Mmh." Lyle nods, he changes his shield to an axe and slashed to the building base, cutting down in one swing. The yellow fell from the building rooftop, before they hit the ground Vincent roundhouse kicked the avatar, sending them sliding to Lyle who stepped on them. Ending the fight.

They returned to the real world and Corina threw her arms around Lyle. "That was great Lyle! Powerful as always!"

Lyle and Vincent smile and nod to each other. Rebecca looked between them. "What am I not getting?"

Corina let's go of Lyle and laughed. "It's just boys Reby. Leave them be. So what's next?"

"Vincent and Rebecca." Said Lyle, taking Vincent and Rebecca by surprise.

"Couple battle team!" Cheered Corina.

Rebecca hid her face behind her hair while Vincent groaned. "We're not a couple."

"Really? Oh." Corina slumped back in disappointment.

Vincent sighed and changed his setting to make Rebecca his partner again then looked for another fight. "You ready Reby?"

Rebecca moved her hair out of her face and smiles. "Yes."

The world shattered around them then reformed into a shopping mall, confusing the two.

"Well this is new." A store window breaks open as a blue avatar with a longsword jumps out at them. Vincent blocks the sword with his blaster and draws his sword. He steps back swings his blade.

As Rebecca watched she was tackled by a metal avatar. In a panic Rebecca drew her knife and plunged it into the avatar's neck, getting them off of him. Rebecca stood up and crossed her arms. "Prism Shift Green!" Rebecca's body changed to her defense form. The metal avatar got up and started punching the shields on her arms.

Vincent saw Rebecca's health chipping away, he glanced over to see her in trouble when the blue avatar brought down their sword on him. Vincent blocked with his sword then looked back to Rebecca. Causing his anger to grow.

"Prism!" Vincent shoved his opponent away and raised his sword. "Royal Cut!" Vincent slashed through the avatar's sword and cut them in half. He dropped his sword and rushed to Rebecca's aid.

Vincent grabbed the metal avatar by the head and slammed them into the ground. Vincent stood above them and punched them in the face over and over. "Beat the, fucking, son of a, eat your, own, god damn, skull, I will, feed it to you!" Vincent raised his fists and crushed the avatar's head.

Breathing hard Vincent stood up and turned to Rebecca. "You okay?"

"Yes." The world broke apart and returned them to the real world. "Sorry."

"It's fine Reby." Vincent draped his arm over her. "You're still new to this. I had problems at the start and I still have problems now. You just have to keep trying."

Corina snickered as she watched the two then turned to Lyle who watched as well with a small smile.

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	23. Meeting

Chapter. 23

On the opal/emerald border Levi relaxed at a table outside a cafe. A waitress walked to Levi's table and put down a tray with a pot with a small cup. "You're tea miss."

"Thank you." Levi tipped the waitress, causing her to smile brightly as she left. Levi picking up the cup and filled it with tea from the pot, as she was about to take a sip Catherine fell into the seat across from her.

"Hello Levi, how's the princess doing?"

Levi sipped her tea and lowered the cup to look at Catherine. "Keeping my kingdom in check. How's your work as a lady of the night doing?"

Catherine laughed. "That's a good on. Now then." Catherine waved her finger and sent a message to Levi. "That's the real name of the emerald legion leader."

Levi opened the message. "Acceptable."

The two sat in silence before Catherine tilted her head. "That's it? Alright." Catherine pushed off the table to stand up.

"Wait. That's something I wish to ask you."

"Okay what's-"

The world shattered around them and reformed into one made of stone. Levi looked down at herself to see she was in her avatar form. "Catherine! I didn't consent to this!"

"Oh lighten up Levi, a little fighting won't hurt you. Oh right, you can't fight!" Catherine drew two of her daggers.

Standing before them were a yellow avatar and metal avatar. The metal avatar broke into a sprint towards Catherine. Catherine ducked then leaped over the avatar as she ran for the yellow looking behind her to throw a dagger into the metal avatar's back.

The yellow avatar's body started to glow then gave off a blinding light, causing Catherine to stop. The yellow avatar drew a knife and it walked to her.

"Vanish!" Catherine's body disappeared in a poof of smoke. The yellow avatar looked around for her. they swung their knife hope to get a hit. They looked at the arrow to see it was pointing them and was stabbed in the back. "You think yellows are the only tricksters?"

The metal avatar threw a punch at Levi who knocked it aside with her staff then kicked them back. The avatar tried to punch her again, Levi sidestepped the attack then struck the avatar in the back of the head then stabbed them in the back with her staff.

The metal avatar stumbled forward then turned back to Levi. The avatar charged at Levi and grabbed onto her staff. Levi kneed the avatar in the stomach then shoved them down, followed with another strike to the avatar's head with her staff.

"That all you have?" Asked Levi as she spun her staff. Once the metal avatar we on their feet again Levi held up her staff. "Heat Raiser!" The metal avatar stepped back but nothing happened. They took a stepped and Catherine threw them to the ground.

The avatar looked up to see Catherine coated in a red, green, and purple light. The avatar got up rushed at Catherine to tackle her. Catherine grabbed onto the avatar's arm and hurled them down, she then took hold of their head to smash it into the ground. "Shh. Go to sleep, go to sleep. Just fade away." Catherine snapped the avatar's neck to end it.

The world returned to normal as the two were back to their seats outside the cafe. Catherine dusted her hands off. "Well that was fun, thanks for the work out Levi."

"Hold it." Levi's voice was forceful. "We're not done talking."

"Really?"

"I still have that question to ask you."

Catherine groaned and sat down. "What is it?"

"What's your interest in Vincent?"

Catherine perked up. "Now why would that be, you interested in him?"

"I want to know why you are, to the point of letting him punch you."

"He has a power, one I want to use. Besides why do you care?"

Levi picked up her tea. "I ask for the good of the opal legion."

Catherine rests her head on her hand. "That's cute, you caring about the legion."

"At least I have a legion to call home. What about you? Where can you call home?"

Catherine nods with a small smile. "I'm welcome in any legion-"

"Until your secret is out, then what?"

"I'm apart of the opal legion-"

"Until your secret is out, again what then? The legion will lose its trust in you."

Catherine leaned back with her arms crossed. "I work in the shadows to keep your legion working. It's something you and I share."

Levi put down her cup and looked at Catherine with more focus. "I am nothing like you."

"Oh really?" Catherine grinned. "How do you figure?"

"You work in the shadows because your actions are ones you don't want to be seen. I may not be in the spot light, but at least I don't have to hide." Levi takes a sip of her tea. "You still haven't told me your interest in Vincent."

Catherine shifts in her chair. "Did you know he has a child? A girl at our school named Rebecca."

Levi smirks. "Sounds like you have competition."

"Don't be ridiculous! She's just some-" Catherine stopped herself and looked away. "She's nothing."

"You sure? You got a little heated there." Levi laughed as she was enjoying herself.

"I'm fine. Besides, why do you care? You interested in Vincent? That desperate for a man in your life?"

"I don't need a man in my life. Though you're not one to judge, since your man left you for another woman."

"That's not-" Catherine slammed her fist on the table. "Vincent is mine. No little bitch is taking him away from me."

"Sounds like she already did."

"Shut up already!" Catherine was grinding her teeth. She stood up and both of her hands pressed on the table.

Levi laughed lightly. "Careful Catherine. Unless you want to entertain our audience."

Catherine looked around to see several people staring at her. She fell back into her seat. "I know what you're doing. You think you're so much better then me."

"Oh Catherine." Levi refilled her cup. "I don't think I am, I know I am." Catherine tightened her fists. "Don't want to make a scene now do we? What would dear old daddy think?"

"At least I have a father." Catherine grinned at her own comeback.

Levi inhaled slowly. "True, but I don't need one. How many problems did you need your father for again?"

Catherine pushed herself up. "I'm leaving. Find the emerald leader and get Lyle and Corina to work."

"Maybe Vincent would like you if you weren't a thot."

Catherine stopped and turned back to Levi with tightened fists. She stomped back to her table. "You're lucky I need the opal legion but it won't protect you forever. Once it falls you're the first one I'm killing." Catherine spit in Levi's tea then stormed off.

"Such a child." Levi raised a finger to press a button. "Recording complete. Keeping this for later." Levi pushed her tea aside then waved down another waitress.

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	24. Lunch

Chapter. 24

The first day of school had finally come, with a satchel over his shoulder Vincent opened his garage and pushed his bike into the sunlight. His heart was pounding as the sun bathed the bike in the soft morning light, giving it a glow. Vaulting from the back of the bike Vincent dropped into the seat with a soft thud. "Now let's see what they think of me now." Vincent stopped moving as he thought about his words. "When did I start caring about what people think of me?"

Vincent started the ignition. He revved the bike a few times before driving into the street. Vincent felt different from all the other times school started up, instead of feeling dread he felt joyful. Driving for a few minutes Vincent pulled up in front of Rebecca's house as its door swung open and Rebecca walked out.

"Morning V!"

"Hey Reby. Ready to go?"

"Yes!" Rebecca jumped onto the bike and held on tightly to Vincent who revved his engine to get going once more. The streets were filled with cars filled with people going to school, Vincent waved his hand to find an alternative route. "Let's make some time." Vincent turned into an alley and took side roads to bypass the traffic.

...

As the students walked to the gate a silver motorcycle carrying two people. They watched the motorcycle pull up into the school parking lot, once it was in a slot the two removed their helmets, revealing themselves as Vincent and Rebecca.

While the two walked towards the school gates Rebecca stayed close to Vincent. "Everyone is staring at us V."

"So? Who cares what everyone thinks?" Vincent places his arm around her back. "They'll forget in a few days, if not hours." Vincent walked with Rebecca through the school as he took her to her class. People around would watch them walk by but Vincent ignored them. They arrived at the class room and Vincent let go. "I'll see you for lunch? I made some food for us."

"Okay!" Rebecca hugged Vincent before she went into her classroom. Letting Vincent head for his own.

Vincent walked in to find a few other students already inside. Vincent sat down at his desk and took a deep breath as he waved his hand to open his school programs. "Another day to work through." he looked out the window as he waited for class to start.

"You seem pretty relaxed. Good morning?" Catherine stood over Vincent. "Happy to be near me everyday?" Vincent gave no response. "Come on love say something, you know I hate being ignored."

Vincent exhaled then turned to Catherine. "I have something I want to talk to you about."

"Really now." Catherine's voice turned to silk.

"Let's meet in the courtyard for lunch, we'll talk there."

"Vinny, your asking to have lunch together?"

"Just meet me at the courtyard. I left my lunch in my bike."

"I'd be happy too." Catherine hugged Vincent. "I knew you'd come around."

"Get off me. Class is starting."

"Oh right." Catherine ran her fingers through his hair as she sat in the desk beside him. Vincent inhaled slowly as he sent a message to Rebecca just before the teacher walked in.

...

The lunch bell rang and everyone got up to leave. Catherine stretched as she stood up. "Time to eat up!" Catherine patted Vincent's back as she walked past. "Don't keep me waiting Vinny." Once Catherine was gone waited for a minute he picked up his bag then stood up to go into the hall. Seeing that Catherine was gone he walked to the stairs and went up to the roof opening the door to find Rebecca. "Hey you!"

Rebecca spun around hearing Vincent's voice. "V!" The two hugged then looked out over the horizon.

"Nice view, right? I come up here when I want to be alone."

"Are we allowed to be up here?"

"Nothing says we can't be up here." Vincent and Rebecca took their seats on the ventilation system as Vincent took the food out of his bag. "Here you go." He gave Rebecca a plastic container.

Rebecca opened the container to find an egg-salad sandwich with mini hot dogs next to it with a dipping cup filled with mustard. "This looks really nice."

"It's nothing, with everyone having access to the internet there's no excuse for being bad at cooking. Besides, this is nothing that special or hard to do." Vincent watched Rebecca pick up the sandwich and felt uneasy. "What are you worried about, you make these almost everyday for school." Vincent felt on edge and held his breath when she took a bite. Quietly breathing out when she smiled. "What did you think?"

Rebecca didn't answer and took another bite. _"She likes it. See? What was I worried about?"_ Vincent smiled in relief and started eating his own lunch while he watch her. when Rebecca took the last bite of her food she turned to Vincent who smiled as he was only half done. "So how was it?"

"I loved it! Thank you V!

"Anytime Reby. I got an idea, how about you make us lunch for tomorrow and I'll do the day after that."

"Like a lunch exchange? That sounds so cool!" Rebecca clapped her hands. "I'll made you the best lunch ever!"

"Hey now." Vincent gentle rubbed her back. "Don't go overboard, okay? I'm asking for a full on feast here."

"Okay." Vincent pulled his hand away then opened his bag to put away the containers then pulled out a cord. "What's that for?"

"When I come up here I like to listen to some soft piano tunes and just take in the calm, care to join in?"

Rebecca snatched the cord end from Vincent's hand and connected it to her linker. Vincent connected his own and started up his playlist. As the music played Vincent looked to the sky to watch some birds fly overhead then felt a weight on his arm. He saw Rebecca leaning on him as she also looking into the sky.

Vincent moved his arm around her back and held her close. _"Now might be a good time to talk about what happened at my place."_ Vincent looked down at Rebecca who smiled softly as she listened. _"Some other time, better not ruin the moment."_

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	25. The Coming Storm

Chapter. 25

Catherine walked into the courtyard with her lunch in her hands. A wooden container wrapped in a purple cloth "Finally, Vinny is coming over to my side." Catherine almost skipped as she went through the courtyard. Looking around for a spot she saw Levi sitting in the grass with a few other people. Feeling smug Catherine strolled over to her.

"Hello there Levi. I see you have found some friends."

Levi stood up and dusted off her coat. "Hello Catherine. What brings you here?"

"Lunch with my boyfriend."

"I don't see anyone. Are you so lonely you're started dating the demons in you mind?"

Catherine inhaled then smiled. "We'll see see how smug you are when all you have is your jabs to hold you in the night. I am having lunch with Vinny, who asked, again asked me to do so with me. I told you no one will take him away from me."

"Then where is he?"

"Getting his lunch from his bike. Knowing him its properly something prepackaged he bought on the way to school." Catherine then winked to Levi then holds up her food. "But once he has my food he'll love me, and only me. What do you say to that ice queen?"

"Burst link." Levi smiled as she looked at Catherine. "You sure? Maybe you should to take a look." Levi pointed to the rooftop.

Catherine waved Levi off. "Burst link." The world turned blue and she spun around to find Vincent. On the roof she found two brain burst players. Eminence Tyrant and Prism Rose. The world returned to normal and Catherine threw her lunch on the ground. "Fucking bastard! Fucking whore!" Catherine stomped on her lunch. "That fucking asshole left me for her?! Some shrinking violet?"

Levi couldn't hold her snickering back and started to laugh. "What!?" Catherine turned to Levi then to her friends, then slowly turned to see everyone in the courtyard looking at her, some even laughing. Catherine spun back to Levi and grabbed her by the collar.

"Careful Catherine, There are cameras here." Catherine's hands were shacking. She glared at Levi who wore a smug smile. "Do it. I dare you."

"Fine." Catherine shoved Levi away, she picked up her destroyed lunch and stormed off. Once she was back indoors Catherine wore a wicked smile. "Alright Vinny. you like submissive girls? I can play submissive."

Levi shook her head and raised a finger to press a button. "Recording complete. Oh Catherine, if only you knew how much fun you bring me." Levi went back to friends.

...

Vincent and Rebecca walked down the school hall as the lunch break was almost over. They reach her class and Vincent opened the door. "Here we are. See you after school?"

"Yes. Thank you V. I really had fun."

"Glad you liked it. We can make it an everyday thing if you're up for it."

"I'd like that."

"Say cheese!" The two turned to see Corina run up to them. "You two are so, so cute together!"

"Coco?" Vincent asked with a hint of wonder.

"You didn't know we went to the same school? Reby didn't tell you? We're in the same class!"

"I... uh." Rebecca covered her eyes with her hair.

Corina brushed Rebecca;'s hair back. "I get it. You forgot when you're with you boyfriend. I do that too."

"Would you stop with that?" Vincent crossed his arms.

Corina leans closer to Vincent. "It's true, isn't it?"

Vincent relaxed and sighed. "Then I'll be leaving her in your care for now."

"You got it! As long as you look after Lyle for me."

"Lyle?"

Corina stood back and gave Vincent a side glance. "He's in you class. Lyle said you didn't notice but... You really didn't?"

"Catherine was in my class."

"You were focused on her?"

"More like how much I want to tear her throat out."

"Well now you know."

"Thank you Coco. I'll see you in a bit Reby."

"Me too V."

Vincent nods with a grin as he walks to his own class.

Reaching his classroom Vincent opened the door to find Catherine standing by his deck with a crushed box on it. "I waited for you..." Catherine hung her head when Vincent got closer. "I made you a lunch..."

Vincent picked up the ruined box and tossed it across the room into the trash. "Knowing you its poisoned."

"I'm sorry..."

"No you're not." Vincent sat at his desk While Catherine went to hers.

"I just wanted to be with you Vinny."

"I don't."

Catherine clinched her fists. "I don't like being ignored, but I can't stand being stood up." Catherine turned to Vincent. "This will have consequences Vinny. BIG Consequences." Vincent didn't look at her. Catherine's body was shacking, she grabbed Vincent's shirt collar. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, you fucking ungrateful asshole!"

"There it is." Vincent tilts his head. "What's wrong? Don't like it when someone lies to you? Makes you look like an idiot?" Vincent smirked. "Doesn't feel good, does it?" He then grabbed Catherine's hands and pulled them off of him. "Now get the hint and get lost, I got no time for thots."

Catherine sat at her desk and went back to watching the door. After a while it opened again as the other students came in. One of them was Lyle. The two locked eyes and nodded before Lyle took a seat in the front.

 _"Lyle, Coco, Rebecca, and... Catherine. If Levi is here that would be perfect."_ Vincent received a message from Rebecca.

 **Hello V. Thank you the lunch. I promise I'll make you proud this a lunch you'll never forget! xoxo**

Vincent smiled as he wrote a reply and sent it. _"I've known her since summer started. We get alone great. She's someone who made me smile. Someone I want to protect. Maybe Coco is right"_

Catherine tightened her fist as she watched Vincent's reactions. _"You belong to me Vinny. you're MY child. Looks like it's time for mommy to deal some harsh discipline."_

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	26. Seeing Red

Chapter. 26

It was Friday when Vincent opened the door to the roof, once again finding Rebecca waiting for him. She turned to him when she heard the door open. "Hunger Reby?"

"Yes!" Rebecca rushed to Vincent's side as they sat at their usual spot on the ventilation system. Vincent handed Rebecca an container filled with pasta salad and garlic bread. "Thank you V!"

"Of course." Vincent opened his own food to start eating. "Listen to this. My parents are about to sell this house up in the hills. Before they do they want us to stay in it for the weekend before they do."

"Us?"

"Me, sis, mom, and dad. They like to do this when they're selling a nice place." Vincent turned to Rebecca with a warm smile. "You wanna come?"

"I, uh." Rebecca lowered her head and her hair hung over her eyes. "I'll think about."

"Okay." The two fell into a calm silence of each others company. Their linkers chimed to let them know the lunch break was almost over. The two packed up then exited the roof.

Walking down the stairs and into the hall Vincent kept looking over his shoulder to see Rebecca staying a few feet behind him, looking down each time he turned to her. Vincent sighed and stopped to spin around to her. "I don't like people following me."

"Sorry."

Vincent went to Rebecca and stood by her side. "If you want to walk with me then walk with me." Vincent smiled to Rebecca, causing her to tense up. "You can relax around me you know. I don't bite." Vincent waited for Rebecca to start moving before he did to keep with her.

...

The bells rang to signal that school was done for the day. Vincent stood up to stretch and saw Catherine run out of the classroom. "Good, leave."

"Vincent." Lyle called out to Vincent.

"Lyle?"

"Stay." The two waited for everyone to leave for the room. once alone Lyle approached Vincent. "I want to talk to you."

"Alright."

"You and Catherine?"

"She gave me brain burst, that's it." Vincent looked down at his clinched fist. "Ever since I got this game that fucking bitch has been nothing but headache enduing, pain causing, and all out irritation."

"Rebecca?"

Vincent relaxed at the mention of her name. "I just want to help her. Keep her safe from anyone wanting to use her."

"Coco said you looked rather close. Closer then friends."

"I mean." Vincent's shoulder's slumped. "I'm not against the idea. I just want her to be happy."

"That's the sign of someone who cares for someone else. you should talk to her about it."

"I'll think on it. Thank you Lyle."

"Of course Vincent."

Vincent walked out into the hall, as he headed for the exit he spotted Rebecca. "Hey Reby!" Vincent dashed to her side. "You ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah."

"What's up?"

"What are legions?"

Vincent was taken aback from the question. "Where did you learn about legions?"

"I was walking around and I met this girl Catherine-"

"Catherine?!" Vincent's blood ran cold. He grabbed onto Rebecca's shoulders. "Go to my bike and wait for me." Rebecca nodded and Vincent let go then stepped back. "Burst link." Vincent accelerated and scanned the world around him to find Catherine. He returned the world to normal then dashed down the hall.

Running to the school gate Vincent found Catherine then roughly grabbed her arm. "The fuck did you do?!"

Catherine grinned at Vincent. "What? Don't like it when someone screws with you?"

"You have a problem with me you take it up with me. Leave Rebecca out of this."

Catherine pulled her arm away. "Listen to me and listen good Vinny. I own you, I gave you this game, Everything you do is for me. Even your child is mine."

"What did you tell her?"

"Just legions, something you didn't."

"I don't want her in the politics. I wanted her to be comfortable with the game before I take her to the opal legion."

"Right, about that."

Vincent's hands and mouth twitched then slowly steadied himself as his grow enraged. "What legion did you get her in?" Catherine just smiled at him. "What legion!"

"You worried about you're-"

"WHAT LEGION YOU FUCKING THOT!"

Catherine stepped back from Vincent's outburst. "Wow, that was good." Vincent clinched his teeth and fists. "Relax or you'll end up having a heart attack. You're child is in the ruby legion."

"How do I get her out?"

"Why would-"

"HOW!"

"You'll need to speak to the legion leader. I can show you to the ruby leader, but you'll need to do something for me."

"What?"

"A kiss." Vincent gave a side glance. "Have you ever kissed a girl?" Catherine stared to laugh. "That's so cute! Big tough Vincent of the fencing team never kissed a girl!" Vincent grabbed Catherine by her shirt collar then pressed her against the gate. "Alright, alright. Here's the deal, you give me a kiss then I'll take you to ruby legion's leader. Easy right?"

 _"Kiss this bitch and move on. It's for Rebecca."_ Saying Rebecca's name caused him to think about her. He thought about the time when they were at his home, when they talked in his room. After he held her as she cried. If his sister didn't walk in on them or if they had just another minute he would have kissed her and they would've gotten together. Vincent knew this now.

Vincent hurled Catherine to the ground. "I'm not kissing a snake. I'll fine the leader on my own. You come near Rebecca again and I'll destroy you."

Catherine pushed herself up. "That a threat or a promise?"

"A fact." Vincent walked to his bike.

"He's angry alright. Angrier then after he fought Sapphire Brawler." Catherine stood up and grinned. "Good. Keep getting angry, keep getting stronger."

Vincent ran to his bike to find Rebecca waiting on it. "Sorry for the wait."

"Is everything okay?"

"No it's not. What legion did Catherine make you join?"

"She said you were in ruby."

"Listen to me carefully Reby. Never, ever, for anything go near Catherine, okay."

"Why?"

"She's a snake and can't be trusted. Right now I need to get you home. Something important has come up that I need to handle." Vincent gentle held her shoulders, Rebecca felt his hands shacking. "I'll tell you about it when it's over, right now I need you to trust me."

"I... Okay."

Vincent let go of Rebecca and exhaled. "Thank you Reby. Time to go." Vincent climbed onto his bike and guided it into the street. Vincent drove through the city faster then normal and pulled up to Rebecca's home, letting her off. "I'll message you later, this shouldn't take long. You'll think about what I said at lunch?"

"Yes. Thank you V."

Vincent nods and rides off, revving his engine he drives full throttle into the ruby legion.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{{+

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	27. Starting Trouble

Chapter. 27

Charging through the emerald legion's territory Vincent pushed into the ruby's. He fulled up into a shopping center's parking lot and turned on his linker. "I'm right here you ruby fucks. Come get me."

Not even a minute passed when Vincent was attacked. The world reshaped into a graveyard and a red avatar stood in his way. "A red, clearly."

"What are you doing here opal?" The red avatar held up a rifle, aimed at Vincent's head.

Vincent held up his blaster and focused his incarnate power into it. "Cleanse." A massive beam struke into the avatar and took half their health, sending them to the ground before it stopped. The avatar raised their rifle and Vincent sliced off their hand then stepped on their chest. "You're leader, who and where are they?"

"Fuck you!"

Vincent plunged his sword into the avatar's hand. "Talk fuck wit! Give me a name!" Vincent twisted his blade.

"Ruby Dragoon!"

Vincent pulled his sword out. "Good. Now where is Ruby Dragoon?" The avatar remained quiet. "Fine. A name is a good start." Vincent held out his blaster and shot them trough the head.

Back in the real world Vincent pulled up a list of players in the area. He slowly scrolled though it when he was attacked again. Turning the world into one of ruin. A blue avatar with a club rushed at Vincent, he drew his sword to catch the attack. "Ruby Dragoon. Where are they?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm here to talk, that's it."

"No one just 'talks' to Ruby Dragoon."

"Then I'll have a 'quote' talk with them. So tell me where I can find your leader?"

"Over my dead body!"

"Fair enough. Royal Cut!" Vincent's blade cut though the club then into the avatar. They staggered back and Vincent kicked them down, followed by cutting off their arms. "Ruby Dragoon. Where are they?"

"I'm not saying anything." Vincent stabbed the avatar in the chest. Twisting the blade around to widening the wound. "Fuck you!" Vincent lifted his sword to stab them in the neck to end it.

Vincent returned to the real world and went back to scrolling the player list. "Found you." Vincent spotted the name and pressed it to offer a challenge, which was accepted in a few seconds.

Vincent arrived in an ice stage with biting cold winds. "You been looking for me?" Before the Tyrant was the one he was searching for, Ruby Dragoon. The avatar was a blood red with folded metal rods on their back, a dragon's head was placed where their right hand should've been. "Been looking forward to meeting the guy who took down two legions."

"You met a player by the name of Prism Rose."

"That one with Teal Assassin. Nervous little girl but Teal really wanted her in."

"I want her out. I'm asking you to let Prism out of the ruby."

"So she can join the opal?"

"No. I don't want her in the politics, I just want to protect her."

"Prism is your girl?"

"She's my child."

"Okay." Ruby held out the dragon head to Vincent. "Kneel."

"What?"

"Kneel and ask again, maybe I'll let her go."

Vincent tightened his fists then let then relaxed. He let out a sigh then kneeled. "Please. I ask you to let Prism out of the ruby legion."

Ruby Dragoon chuckled then full on laughed. "Really? Opal's golden child in kneeling! This girl is that important to you?"

Vincent kept silent, he heard metal grinding and jumped to his right, dodging Ruby rushing at him. Ruby held the dragon head out at Vincent, the head opened its mouth and breathed fire on Vincent.

The tyrant was thrown down against the flames, melting the ice around him. The fire that stuck to his body melted more ice to create a small pond to put out the fire. "I hate any stage with water, ruins my fun of burning things." Vincent dove out of the way as Ruby hurled more fire at him. The tyrant shot a few laser beams at Ruby.

The rods on Ruby Dragoon's expanded to create a frame, fire erupted from the frame to create wings. The flames grew stronger and lifted Ruby into the air.

"So you can fly. Wonderful." Vincent shot more lasers but Ruby dodged each one. "Charge Shot!" Vincent put all of his special gauge in this attack, creating as large a beam as he could. Ruby moved to evade but attack clipped his wing and caused him to descend. Vincent slowly approached Ruby as his blaster cooled down.

Ruby Dragoon roughly landed on his feet and held out his right arm. "Kasai no arashi!" The dragon head opened and launched a massive fireball, Vincent crossed his arms when the fire hit its mark.

Vincent slid along the ice then crashed into a berg, the fire melted the ice to pour water on the flames. Vincent checked health to find only a small amount was left. Ruby Dragoon landed and walked to Vincent. "You got power friend." Ruby stood over Vincent and pointed his dragon head at him. "Too bad you're on the wrong side."

Vincent took a hold of his sword. "More power then you think." He drew his sword which held an orange shine and swung at Ruby Dragoon, slicing off the avatar's legs. Ruby fell then used his wings to fly away as Vincent stood up.

"What the hell was that?!" Ruby hurled more fire at Vincent.

Vincent swung his blade and a gust of wind rushed from the blade to push the flames back to Ruby. The fires washed over Ruby and drained his health. When the fires died Vincent held out his blaster. "Charge Shot!" Vincent fired a large beam at Ruby to knock him down to a sliver of health. Ruby's wings broke off then he fell to the ground, ruby looked to see Vincent stand over him then stab Ruby in the head to finish him.

Vincent returned to the real world, his entire body burned from the phantom pain. He opened his contacts to call Rebecca.

"Hello V!"

"Hey Reby. Listen, I spoke with the ruby leader. You should be able to leave it soon."

"Oh, thank you V." Rebecca's voice was subdued.

"You okay Reby? You sound upset."

"I'm fine, my parents called and said they can't be home today."

"Should I come over?"

"No. I want to be alone right now."

"Okay." Vincent felt a weight in his chest. "I'm just a call away if you need me. You're never a problem Reby. I want you to know that."

"Thank you V." The call went silent between the two until Rebecca hung up. Vincent turned off his linker to not be interrupted for his ride home.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	28. Natural Love

Chapter. 28

It was Saturday morning as Vincent packed a suitcase. The day had come for him and his family to get away to the hills for a weekend. Closing the suitcase Vincent put on a green hoodie then lifted the suitcase up and carried it down the stairs and out the front door.

"Hurry up Vincent!" Shouted Elizabeth. "What took so long?"

"Packing my stuff. I'd have it done sooner if you would carry your own shit sis!" Vincent lunged a suitcase out the front door to his waiting family by the car.

"That everything?" Asked the father.

"Should be, I carried most of it." A massage appeared from Catherine and Vincent ignored it.

A car pulled up in front of the house, the door swung open and Rebecca stepped out. "Thank you." Rebecca closed the door and the car drove off.

"Reby!" Vincent dashed to greet her. "You're here, what's up?"

"I, uh... I want to go if I can-"

"Of course you can!" Vincent lead her to his family. "Mom, Dad this is Rebecca. I asked her to come with us."

"Hello." Rebecca's voice was low.

"Vincent bringing his girlfriend?" Asked Elizabeth.

"Shut it sis!"

"Hello Rebecca." Vincent's mother hugged the girl. "I finally get to meet one of my son's friends."

Vincent hair was ruffled by his father. "A fine young woman you got there Vincent."

"Can we go now?" Vincent got a call from Catherine, which he blocked.

Everyone loaded into the car, Vincent sat in the middle of the back seats as Elizabeth was on his left and Rebecca on his right. As the father started it up Vincent got a call from Jade, he shut off his linker and leaned back. "How far is this place?"

"An hour drive."

The mother looked to the backseat. "So, how did you two meet?"

"We met at fencing practice." Vincent answered.

"So you're on the team too?"

"Not yet, I've been giving her lessons for the tryouts."

"Private lessons?" Elizabeth smirked.

"Yes sis, private lessons. Take it how you will."

Their mother turned back in her seat. "I don't know Vincent. A boy and girl, working out their frustrations. Can get pretty heated."

Vincent groaned. "Dad! Talk some sense into Mom!"

"I'm driving Vincent."

"You bitch! Leaving your own son to be ganked!"

The mother adjusted the rear view mirror to see Rebecca. "So Reby, what's my like when its just you two? What do you like about him?"

"He's very kind and looks out for me."

"My brother, kind? I don't believe it"

Vincent spun to Elizabeth. "I'm sorry. Who was it again you crawled into bed with when you had nightmares? Tell me again, who was it that you come crying to when you were sad or hurt?" Elizabeth crossed her arms and glared at her brother. "Yeah. Checkmate."

Elizabeth grinned. "So did you two have sex yet?"

"Really!" Vincent leered at his sister as his face was red. "Mom!"

"It's a fair question. You better be treating her right son."

"Dad! Help!" Vincent's father was snickering. "Et tu Dad?! You too?!" Everyone in the car laughed. "I'm beyond done with you people." Vincent pulled his hood over his head and looked down to hide his face.

Vincent's mother looked at Rebecca who used her hair to also cover her face. "Don't hide Reby. You have such pretty eyes." Rebecca shuffled closer to Vincent. "Okay let's stop teasing the couple. Tell us about yourself Reby."

...

The family arrived at their destination. They got out of the car to find a single floor house with a stone exterior. "Here we are, just remember to keep it clean." The father took out some keys then unlocked the door for everyone to come inside. "Oh check it out." Elizabeth pointed to a sliding glass door to a balcony over looking a forest.

While everyone explored the house Vincent throw his suitcase into one of the rooms and went to the balcony, sliding the door open to walk outside he spotted a staircase on his left. He stood by the railing to see a path in the woods.

"What'cha looking at?" Rebecca stepped outside, closing the sliding door behind her.

"Take a look." Vincent pointed down to the path below. "Wanna go down and walk it?"

"Can we?"

"Why not? I'll tell my parents." Vincent slid the glass door open. "Mom, Dad! Reby and I are going for a walk, see you in a bit!" Vincent slid the glass door shut, no caring for a reply. Rebecca had already gone down the stairs and waited on the path. Vincent looked down from the balcony then turned on his linker to measure the height to the ground and was hit with forty messages and a dozen missed calls from Catherine.

 _"Bitch, take a fucking hint!"_ Vincent got his measurements then shut off his linker again. He placed his hand on the railing then lifted himself up to leap over the railing. Vincent landed on his feet and fell forward, using his right hand to catch himself and his left hand for balance. He stood up and flapped his hoodie for any dirt he kicked up. "Ready?"

Rebecca slowly nodded with a stunned expression. The two walked down the path, listening to the sounds of nature and looking at the plants and animals. Rebecca spotted some poppies growing by a tree. Rebecca kneeled down to gentle touch one. "So pretty."

Vincent kneeled beside her. "You want one?" Vincent plucked one of the poppies, ripping off the stem to shorten it. "Hold still." He combed Rebecca's hair with his fingers then placed the flower in hair. Moving some strains to keep it in place. _"Soft."_ Vincent stood up and dusted his hands. "All done. Wanna see?"

The two walked to a small river with a wooden bridge over it. Rebecca stood on the bridge and looked down in the water to see her reflection. "Like it?"

Rebecca hugged Vincent. "I love it."

Vincent held Rebecca lightly, her hair smelled of the same pine as the trees around them. "That's good." Vincent's thought went back to his room. Rebecca pulled back and his hand hung on her shoulders. Rebecca looked up to Vincent, her eyes held a polished shine. His left hand raised to hold her cheek.

"Vincent!" The two separated to see Elizabeth running towards them. "Sorry to interrupted but Mom and Dad want you two to come back before it gets dark."

"Thank you Elizabeth." Said Rebecca.

"Of course. So, what'cha doing?" Elizabeth noticed the poppy in Rebecca's hair. "Oh that's so cute! Did Vincent do that?"

Vincent tightened his fist, using all of his self control to not throw his sister into the river. "Care walk with us Liz?"

"Sure." Elizabeth walked beside Rebecca, as they talked Vincent stayed behind glancing down at his hand as slowly opened and closed it. Elizabeth turned back to her brother. "You good Vince?"

"Fine."

...

The sun began to set when the three returned to the house. Elizabeth slid the glass door open. "Mom, Dad! We're back!"

The three were greeted by sweet smells from the kitchen, their mother coming out to see them. "Did you all have fun?"

"It was good to get out and see some real nature." Replied Elizabeth.

"Okay, Dinner is almost done. Don't make any messes, we're still selling this place."

Rebecca turned to Vincent. "Then why are we here if something could go badly?"

"Because my parents are dumb risk takers."

After dinner everyone went to the living room except the father who went into one of the other rooms then came out again to show everyone a CD player. "Here you go kids, something from an older generation."

"Oh god no!" Elizabeth grabbed a couch pillow to cover her face. "It's bad enough you two and Vince like that old stuff do we have to suffer too?"

"Old stuff has its charms." Said Rebecca.

"You too? I'm surrounded by old people."

Vincent grinned. "Laugh now but one day you'll be in the same place, what you like will be old and you'll be thinking its better then the new."

"No..." Elizabeth slumped into the sofa.

The parents turned on the CD player and music started to play.

 _ **(Angel of the morning, by Juice Newton.)**_

As music played the mother gasped. "This song."

"The same one from the night I proposed." The Father held out his hand to the mother and parents started to dance.

Vincent crossed his arms as he watched his parents with a soft smile.

"Vince." Elizabeth poked Vincent in the ribs to get his attention then point to Rebecca who watched the parents dance with her hand over her chest.

With a nod Vincent stood up and held a hand to Rebecca. "Want to dance?"

"Okay." Rebecca gingerly took his hand and stood up, going into center of the room Vincent placed a hand on Rebecca's waist and held her hand with the other. Rebecca rested her free hand on his shoulder and they started to dance.

It took a few seconds for them to get into a rhythm and stop looking at their feet but to each other. Vincent smiled when he saw Rebecca was having fun. She pressed her head against his chest and Vincent moved his hand from her waist to her back, gently rubbing it. The smell of pine washed over Vincent, reminding him of earlier that day.

When the song reached its build up Rebecca pulled away from Vincent and looked up to him with the same eyes as before. _"Not this time."_ Vincent let go of Rebecca's hand to hold the side of her face then leaned in to kiss her. Rebecca was frozen from the action, she stared back at Vincent in shock when he pulled back.

"Not your girlfriend?" The two spun to see Elizabeth and her parents watching them with wide smiles. Returning to reality Vincent and Rebecca separated, Rebecca rushed to one of the rooms while Vincent ran to the balcony jumping over the railing to go into the woods.

...

It was dark when Vincent returned to the house, he climbed up the stairs to find Rebecca standing by the sliding glass door. Vincent took a deep breath and approached her. "Hey."

Rebecca spun to him. "Hello V."

"Look... I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"Oh no! I was just surprised! I didn't know you felt that way about me."

"I do, but I don't want to make you feel forced into anything. I'm open to us becoming a thing. If not then-"

"No!" Rebecca jumped at Vincent, throwing her arms around him. "I want you! I want to be us!" Rebecca pulled back to look up to Vincent, gone were her warm eyes now filled with worry. She lunged up at Vincent and kissed him. Vincent was surprised at first then returned the kiss. The two pulled to breath, smiling to each other. "Was that good?"

Vincent chuckled. "How would I know? I've never kissed someone before."

"Really?"

"You sound upset."

"I just thought, you've had, uh, other relationships."

"None. I've never been keen on dating just to date."

Rebecca nods happily, the warm glow in her eyes returned. She wrapped her arms around Vincent, holding on tightly. "Good."

Vincent held on to Rebecca, rubbing her back while he stroked her hair. "Care to try again?"

Rebecca let go and almost shoved Vincent away. "Yes!"

! #$%^&*()_++}"?:{{

Angel in the morning by Juice Newton

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	29. Just a Sunday

Chapter. 29

Vincent awoke to the sound of chirping bird. He groaned and raised his hand to his face. "What a dream." With his senses returning to him Vincent left a weight on him, he turns to see Rebecca holding on to him as she slept. _"When did she get in here?"_ Vincent raised his hand to softly shake her. "Hey, come on. Time to get up Reby." Vincent gently shook Rebecca.

Rebecca opened her eyes and pushed herself up. She cleared her vision and saw Vincent next to her. "V?"

Vincent leaned forward and kissed Rebecca. "Sleep well?"

Rebecca nodded and smiled brightly. "Yes, thank you." Rebecca looked around the room. "So, what happens now?"

"We do what already do, just as a couple. Whatever comes natural."

"That simple?"

"That simple."

Rebecca relaxed and nods. "I thought relationships were hard?"

"Not all, some are very easy. The best kind." Vincent kissed Rebecca's cheek then threw off the sheets and climbed out of bed. "Come on, let's get changed, cleaned up then get breakfast." Rebecca jumps out of bed and picked up her bag and went to the bathroom while Vincent did the same in the room.

The couple walked out into the kitchen to Vincent's family moving about to make breakfast. Elizabeth heard the two enter and turned to greet them. "Hey it's the new lovebirds!"

Vincent took a seat at the table. "What's on the menu today Mom?"

"Eggs, bacon, and toast with yogurt."

"Yum, yum." Vincent turned on his linker find more massages from Catherine then turned it off.

Rebecca watched him as she poured a glass of milk and joined Vincent at the table. "Anything new?"

"Nothing important." Vincent patted Rebecca's arm as the parents brought the food to the table. The family ate and cleaned up then everyone got fully dressed and went outside.

The family walked down the road and headed into town to see the shops. Everyone broke off to wonder about for while. Vincent spotted a shop several small glass figures, looking around he saw a dagger made of glass. Vincent almost picked it up until he saw the price tag and backed away.

Looking around Vincent found a display case with glass roses, he picked one up and went to pay for it before finding Rebecca walking out of a leather works store. "Hey Reby." Vincent handed the glass rose to her. "A prism rose for my prism rose."

"Thank you." Rebecca held the flower, peering into its refection. "This is me..."

"Colorless, but can take on any color. Empty, but has limitless potential." Vincent rubbed Rebecca's arm.

"I got you something too." Rebecca held out a pair of purple tinted leather bracers.

"Oh wow, thank you Reby." Vincent put the bracers on his arms. "How's it look?"

"Very nice, they suit you."

Vincent leaned forward to kiss her. "Thank you, it keeps you close."

"I want to protect you. Just like you keep protecting me." Vincent wraps his arms round Rebecca as she closed her eyes, feeling safe where so was.

"Hey! Vince!" The couple broke apart at Elizabeth's call. "Time to check out the next shop!"

"Shall we?" Vincent placed his hand on his hip. Rebecca nodded and held onto Vincent as they left the store.

...

The family returned to the house make sure its clean and to pack their belonging to go home. Once all traces of their presents was gone they loaded up into the car and drove back into the city, the mother kept glancing into the rear view mirror to see Vincent and Rebecca fast asleep on each other. When they arrived home the father pulled into the driveway while Elizabeth shoved Vincent. "Rise and shine Bro. We're here"

Vincent woke up, causing Rebecca to wake up as well. He reached for the door and opened it, allowing Rebecca to get out. Vincent stepped out and stretched. "Good to be home. That was a fun trip."

"Yes it was, thank you V." Said Rebecca.

"Anytime Reby."

Rebecca waved her finger to see the time. "I should be going home now."

Vincent's mother shook her head. "You don't have to leave love. You can spent the night here, Vincent can take you home after school on Monday. That is if you have the clothes for it."

Rebecca looked down to her bag. "I can go another day."

"Then its settled. You can stay in Elizabeth's room."

Everyone went into the house. Vincent turned on his linker to find countless messages and missed calls from Catherine, Jade, Lyle, and Corina. "I'll talk to them on Monday." Vincent shut off his linker again.

...

That night Vincent tossed about in his bed as his mind was racing with thoughts of Rebecca, keeping him from falling a sleep. Anytime he thought he was about to sleep he glanced to the bracers o his desk and his mind was sent in a whirlwind. He checked the time to see it was past eleven then rolled over. He heard his door open then closed quietly. He heard foot steps draw closer till they stopped at the side of his bed.

"V?" Rebecca lightly patted his pillow. "Are you asleep?"

Vincent reached out from under his blanket and grabbed Rebecca's arm, pulling her into him. Rebecca lost her balance and her torso falls on top of him. Vincent held her close, Rebecca's face inches away from his and her hair tickling him as it fell around her face. Vincent pushes up to kiss her cheek. "Can't sleep?"

Before Rebecca could answer Vincent released Rebecca and threw the blanket up to cover them then held onto Rebecca. "Better?"

Rebecca rested her head on Vincent's shoulder. "Better."

"Good." Vincent ran his fingers through her hair as she drifted off to sleep before he did so as well.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	30. The fallout

Chapter. 30

The alarm next to Vincent's bed blared loudly, Vincent rocked his head back and forth to wake up. He felt a weight on his side and when he opened his eyes he saw Rebecca's arm grab his alarm clock the throw it across the room, shattering it. The arm gently came down on Vincent's chest.

Vincent brushed Rebecca's hair with his free hand. "Hey Reby. Come on, time to get up."

"No." Rebecca pressed her body against him.

"It's Monday, we got school again."

"Okay..." Rebecca pushed herself up and looked around with hair covering her half closed eyes.

Vincent sat up then pushed some hair out of the way. _"Half asleep with bed hair, a Reby only I get to see."_ Vincent leaned forward and kissed her. "Let me grab some clothes the the room is yours." Vincent jumped out of bed and pulled off his shirt before opening his dresser. With clothes in hand Vincent went to the bathroom.

After breakfast the jumped onto the motorcycle then drove to the school, Rebecca wrapping herself around Vincent's arm as they went in. Went they were close to the doors they burst open with Corina, Lyle and Levi running at them.

"Coco!" Rebecca let go of Vincent and hugged Corina. "Guess what!?"

"Where have you two been? We got trouble!"

"Trouble?"

"The ruby legion attacked over the weekend. They took four zones!"

Lyle noticed Vincent tighten his fist. "You know of this?"

"No, we were gone for the weekend."

"You didn't see our calls or messages?"

"I turned off my linker. Didn't see them till last night and thought to bring them up on Monday." Vincent glanced to Levi. "You go here too?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Rebecca held out her hand to Levi. "Hello. I'm Rebecca."

Levi looked Rebecca up and down. "So you're the one who's been making Catherine froff at the mouth." Levi took a hold of Rebecca's hand. "I'm Levi. Thank you."

"Thank you, for what?"

"For letting me see that brat's real face." Levi glanced at Vincent. "Jade wants to see you after school."

Rebecca turns to Vincent. "Who's Jade?"

"The opal leader." Vincent groaned. "I'll see what she wants. Come on, class is going to start."

As they went inside Rebecca held onto Vincent once again. She saw Corina grinning at Rebecca so she grinned back. "Oh yeah I wanted to tell you all. We can go into the detail at lunch but, Vincent and I are officially a couple."

"I knew it would happen!" Corina clapped her hands. "I'm so happy for you two!"

Levi shrugged at the news. "Whatever makes you happy."

Lyle pats Vincent on the head, ruffling his hair. Vincent looks to Lyle with a wide smile.

Unknown to the group Catherine overheard them from around a corner, snapping a pen in half with one hand.

Levi left the group to find her class, Rebecca let go of Vincent and walked with Corina to their own, leaving Vincent and Lyle to enter theirs. A few minutes had past when the door opened and Catherine walked in.

Vincent braced himself but Catherine kept quiet, not even look at him. _"Guess she got the hint finally."_ Vincent sighed in relief as he started up his linker for the day.

...

School was over and Vincent took Rebecca back to his house so she could retrieve her belongings then took her back to her home. Rebecca climbed off the bike. "You sure I can't come?"

"It's just a meeting with the leader, nothing important. I'll be back in a bit and tell you about it. Trust me, it's not something you want to be around for."

"Okay..."

Rebecca lowered her head and Vincent raised it back up and kissed her. "I'll be back in a bit Reby." Vincent revved his bike and drove away.

Rebecca felt alone as Vincent sped away. She could feel that he was hiding something. Rebecca unlocked her front door and stepped inside.

...

Vincent rolled up to the library, climbing off the bike he walked into the building, going straight for the back room. He opened the door to find everyone already there and Jade jumped from her seat. "Where the hell were you?!"

"Taking care of something. So what's up?"

"I mean over the weekend!"

"You didn't say that at the start."

"The ruby legion invaded! That's what happened! Where were you?!"

Vincent looked to everyone. "No one said anything? I was gone for the weekend."

"I didn't give you permission to leave."

"Since when did what I do need your approval."

"Since you joined the opal legion."

Catherine laughed. "Vincent just tell everyone what happened. Tell them you attacked the ruby legion."

Everyone looked to Vincent. "Because of what you did."

"You do what?! Attacked the ruby?!" Jade shouted at Vincent.

"That's not what was meant to happen. The leader attacked me."

"But you did start it." Stated Catherine.

"Well yeah but-"

Jade slapped Vincent across the face. "Are you trying to destroy this legion?! You've been nothing but trouble since Catherine brought you in!"

Catherine sat up as she watched with glee. Vincent remained motionless as he stared back at Jade. "That speaks more on your sense of judgement. Also I didn't mean to attack them I just wanted to talk to its leader."

"Why?" Asked Levi.

"To ask if he could let Reby out of the legion." Vincent glared at Catherine. "The legion Catherine made her join."

"I don't care why you did it. We lost four zones. FOUR! Because of you!"

"Alright!" Vincent threw up his hands. "Alright, I get it. I screwed up, but I had a reason for what I did. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to fix this mess you made! How the hell did you even find the ruby leader?"

"I just went to the ruby area, fought some people till someone gave up the avatar name."

"So much work for this Reby. Who is she?"

"My child... And girlfriend."

"Ahh." Corina sighed with her hands on her heart. Levi noticed Catherine dragging her nails on the sofa arm.

Jade groaned. "Whatever your reason is you still put the legion in danger. Now we need to take control of the emerald legion fast. I expect you to be on the front lines fighting for every inch we get."

"Fine."

"No! Not fine! The opal is up in panic now! You took two legions, you started this war prematurely. Now you're gonna fix this, Mr. Hero."

Vincent shrugged. "Anything else?"

Jade rolled her eyes. "Everyone but Catherine. Leave." Once the room emptied out Jade spun around to Catherine with her arms crossed. "Care to explain Teal?"

"Are you questioning me now?"

"As a leader yes."

"I wanted to see something."

"I told you to find his child and bring her to me, not send her to the enemy!"

"It's fine."

"How is this fine?"

Catherine raised her arms to stretch. "You wanted a warrior, a monster, a demon. I'll get you one, you just need to trust me."

"That trust is wearing thin Catherine. I want results. Vincent may have kicked the hornets nest but you're the one who put it in his way."

Catherine stood up and walked to the door. "I'll get your results, trust me. I just need a bit of time." Out in the hall Catherine began typing out a message.

...

Outside the library Vincent pushed the doors open with everyone following behind. "Well that was something."

"So you attacked a whole legion, just for Rebecca." Levi crossed her arms as she stood in front of Vincent.

"I just wanted to talk, they attacked me each time. If I have to physical then I will."

Corina stood beside Lyle, rubbing his back. "I think it's sweet. Throwing yourself into the fire for the one you love."

"What you did was reckless, but... I can't judge, as I'd do the same." Said Lyle.

Vincent nods. "Thank you, really I mean it."

Levi shook her head. "Still you made a lot of problems for us. The ruby came at us full force."

"How bad was it?" Vincent felt the moon turn grim till Corina spoke up.

"Bad."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?+{:

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	31. The Invasion

Chapter. 31

It was Saturday morning when Lyle pulled his truck up into the library parking lot. Lyle turned off the engine and climbed out along with Corina and Levi.

"What do you think this is about?" Asked Corina.

"That's what were here to find out." Levi sighed and walked ahead of everyone. The three arrived in the back room to find Jade and Catherine waiting. "What's going on?"

Jade waved her hand down to summon a brain burst territory map. Many of the opal zone were flashing red. "This is what's up! Ruby is making a huge push into our territory!"

Corina covered her mouth in shock, Lyle patted her back then turned to Jade. "How big is the invasion?"

"Almost everything they have. Catherine reported that the ruby legion is pulling most of its forces from the emerald front for this attack. Their willing to lose some of their own land for this attack." Jade scanned the room. "Where's Vincent?"

Levi shrugged. "Wasn't with us."

Jade turned to Catherine. "Call him."

Catherine moved her fingers then waited, after a minute Catherine waved her hand down. "He's not answering."

"Keep trying!"

"Maybe Vincent just wants to spent his weekend with his girlfriend." Said Corina.

"No she's not!" Catherine shouted as she stood up. "I know Vincent, he's not the type to fall for that bitch's little weak girl tricks."

Levi grinned. "What's the matter Catherine? You upset Vincent would rather be with an actually woman?"

"Shut the fuck up Levi!"

"I'd call you a two dollar whore, but we all know you're cheaper then that."

"Fuck you!"

"I don't do thots."

"Enough!" Shouted Jade. "Catherine find Vincent and get him ready to fight." Catherine's fists were shacking as she returned to her seat. "I'll need to move some of our forces from the emerald front to stop this attack. Lyle, Corina I'm putting you two as the only defenders in the one of the front line zones. Levi I'm moving you to any zones that need defending. Same for you too Catherine. We need hold as much as we can so you all need to win every single fight by any means. Use the incarnate system if you have to, just hold the line!"

Everyone nodded. "We still have some time before it starts. Catherine keep trying to reach Vincent, let's see if he'll ignore a call from his leader."

"Do we really need him that badly?" Asked Levi.

Jade pointed to the map. "Are you not seeing this? I need everyone on this! We're going to lose some territory from this but how must we can somewhat control."

A few minutes had passed and neither Catherine or Jade could get a hold of Vincent. Jade check the time to see they had two minutes left. "Fuck it. I'm gonna have to have a talk with Vincent when I see him. The battle is about to begin. Get ready, use the incarnate system if you have to! Winning is all that matters right now!" Shouted Jade.

"Very well." Lyle leaned back and cracked his knuckles.

Corina clapped her hand together. "I'm ready."

Levi rolled her neck and crossed her arms.

The world around them broke apart as it was being reshaped for their battles. Lyle and Corina stood in a destroyed city, before the couple stood a pair of blue avatars. Corina and Lyle rushed the two avatars. One of them drew a sword just as they were bashed down by Lyle's fists. The avatar held up their sword and Lyle slammed his shield on them, cutting the avatar with their own sword.

Corina held out her hands and blasted the other avatar with lasers, the avatar rushed towards Corina with a spear. Just as the avatar thrusted their weapon at her Corina spun out of the way and took off one of her pigtails, which extended an energy blade to be used to stab the avatar in the back of the head.

The battle was over and another began, a green avatar with shields on both arms and a metal avatar appeared and charged them. Lyle punched the green avatar who blocked with their shield, sliding back a couple feet. Lyle kept punching them to push them back, the avatar shoved its shields at against Lyle fist. With the avatar's arms out Lyle punched them on the side with his other fist, knocking them down. The avatar looked up just as Lyle decapitated them with the rim of his own shield.

The metal avatar throw punches at Corina as she kept backing away, watching their movements Corina waited for an opening. When the green avatar's health dropped the metal avatar stopped for a moment, Corina stopped moving back punched the avatar. The avatar blocked with their arms and Corina followed up with a jab to the stomach. Corina punched again but the avatar ducked and spun out of the way. The avatar caught Corina's next punch but was too slow to stop another stomach jab. She went for a punch to the head and the avatar caught her fist with both hands, letting Corina go for another stomach jab. The avatar throw a punch of its own, Corina knocked the avatar's arm away and struck them in the face. Corina punched them in the chest a few more times the finished with an uppercut. As the avatar stumbled Corina dashed behind them and snapped their neck.

The third battle began with a purple and red avatar appearing. Lyle held out his shield and rushed towards the red avatar as they shot at him with a minigun. The bullets were bouncing off the shield so the avatar aimed for Lyle's legs. Lyle dropped to his knees and lowered his head, trying t hide as much of himself as possible behind his shield. The red avatar stopped firing, Lyle looked over his shield to see the red avatar's weapon overheated. Lyle jumped to his feet and changed his shield to an ax. The red avatar froze in fear as Lyle bared down and split them in half.

Corina and the purple avatar circled each other firing lasers at each other. Corina stopped just before her lasers overheated and dashed to the purple avatar. The purple avatar straightened their hands and energy blades extended from them, they held their hands back then then lunged forward as Corina got closer. Corina pulled off her pig tails that became energy blades, she fell to her knees and slid under the purple's swords and cut them in half with her own.

The fourth battle started with two metal avatars, they rush towards Lyle and Corina who also did the same. The first metal avatar reached Corina and threw a punch, Corina sidestepped the attack and grabbed the avatar by the arm to throw them to the ground, leaving them to smashed under Lyle's fist.

Corina ducked under the second avatar's kick then punched them in the chest, followed with a roundhouse kick to the head, sending them to the ground. The tried to push themselves up but was also smashed under Lyle's fist.

"Hold long do we have to keep this up?" Asked Corina, resting her hands on her knees.

Lyle kneeled beside her and rubbed his hands. "We go as long as we have to."

A blue avatar and a yellow avatar appeared, signaling the fifth battle has began. The yellow avatar started punching the blue in the back to build up their special gauge, they placed their hand on the purple's back to turn them to a jet black.

The former blue avatar raised their sledgehammer and rushed to Corina. Corina drew her swords and ducked under the sledgehammer and slashed their chest once for the avatar to run right through her and towards Lyle.

Lyle punched down at the avatar but the fist went through them and the avatar struke Lyle in the knee with the sledgehammer then run behind him. Dropping one his wounded knee Lyle turned around and swung his arm at the avatar with once went through them as the swung the sledgehammer into Lyle's shoulder.

Corina turned her attention to the yellow avatar, she reattached her pig tails and fired lasers at them, which the avatar dodged. Lyle held out his shield to block the avatar's hammer attacks then noticed Corina trying to catch the yellow avatar. He changed his shield into an ax and hurled it at the yellow avatar just as the former blue avatar's hammer crashed into his hand.

The yellow avatar stopped running to just as the ax struke the ground in front of them. Their turned around and Corina placed his hand on the yellow avatar's face and fired lasers from her palms, killing the avatar.

The blue avatar's body color changed back to normal. Lyle grabbed them with his good hand and slammed them into the ground until their health was gone.

! #$%^&*()_}"?:{+

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	32. The Enchantress

Chapter. 32

As the world broke apart and turned to ash Levi stood be side a red and blue avatar, across from her were the two red avatars with a green. "Follow me!" Levi's team ran into a building for cover from the gunfire of the enemy reds.

Levi struck the walls with her staff, knocking down the building as her special meter filled. "Heat Raiser!" The tip of her staff lit up with a red, green, and purple light. The two avatars on Levi's side were set alight with the same colors. "Go get them!"

The red avatar drew a laser rifle and blasted away one of the other reds, the green moved to protect the remaining red but the blue leaped over the green and threw a dagger into the red's head. The green avatar faced the blue and was shot in the back my the red ending the battle.

The second fight began and Levi's next team were a green and a purple, ready to fight a metal, a blue, and a yellow. "Heat Raiser!" Levi powered up her team as they rushed towards the enemy. The green used their large shield to bash away the blue avatar and went straight for the metal, tackling them down and bashing them with the shield. The blue got up to help but the purple drew a spear from their back and hurled it into the blue's chest, drawing another spear they sent it flying int the blue avatar's head.

The yellow avatar faced the enemy then punched the ground and vines grew out of the ground, wrapping up around the green and purple's legs. Everyone waited for the yellow avatar's special gauge to run out for the vines to let go then attacked, tearing the yellow avatar apart.

The third battle was under way and Levi's partners changed to a pair of greens, the opposing side was made up of a blue, a red, and a purple. With some charge left in her special gauge Levi held up her staff again. "Heat Raiser!" Levi's green allies held out their shields and stood their ground as the enemy blue and purple advanced with cover fire from the red's dual smgs.

The purple avatar dashed ahead of the blue and drew a chain sickle, hurling it at one of the green avatars. The sickle latched onto the side of the green's shield and dragged it down, leaving them open for the blue who drew an ax.

the blue avatar raised their ax as the looked down at the green avatar. Levi ran towards the enemy blue and lounged the end of her staff into their neck, piecing it with the spike. She swung her staff to swipe away the sickle, letting her green ally stand.

The purple avatar pulled their weapon back and spun it over head to build up speed then throw it at Levi. The sickle wrapped around Levi's staff creating a tug of war. Levi slowly spun her staff to get more of the chain around her staff, drawing the purple avatar close, inch by inch.

A green avatar bashed their shield into the purple avatar to knock them down then Levi pulled them to her. The green avatars circled the red and crushed them in between their shields while the purple pushed themselves up and was straggled with their own chain by Levi.

Levi let the body fall then was taking to her fourth battle to meet a metal and purple waiting for her. Against them stood two purples and a green. Levi's gauge was empty and arena was made of machinery. "Nothing easy to break, alright." Levi spun her staff and joined her allies to fight.

Levi carefully approached one of the purple avatars with her staff held low. The purple avatar drew a sword and spun it around at their side, after building up speed the blade broke apart and extended to Levi who sidestepped the incoming attack.

The blades retracted and reconnected before the purple swung the sword for the blade to separated again. Levi dodged the attack and swatted at a piece in the center of the line, the piece was sent flying away and parts connected by it dropped. The purple tried again and Levi did the same, shortening the weapon each time until the sword was gone.

The purple avatar threw away the handle and rushed at Levi with their fist held back. When they got closer Levi swatted away the incoming punch with her staff then struke them in the ribs. The purple jumped at her but Levi stepped aside and let them fall to the ground, Levi stepped on the avatar's back then bashed their head in with her staff.

Levi looked over to see her purple allies was gone and the metal avatar was being beaten by the green. With her special gauge filled she raised her staff. "Heat Raiser!" The metal avatar was strengthened and grabbed the green avatar by the arm and hurled it into the ground, punching it in the face until its health was empty.

The fifth battle began with another purple and green, facing them were three blue avatars. One of the blue avatars drew a great sword, another held an warhammer, while the last one twirled a staff.

"Heat Raiser!" Levi strengthened her allies as she walked ahead of them. "Get the sword and hammer guys. I'll handle the one with the staff." The three broke off to face their opponents.

The blue avatar raised their staff to strike down but Levi held up her staff to block. The blue pulled their staff back then swung upward with the lower end, Levi lowered her staff to block again. The two took a step back and swung their staffs, clashing into each other. The blue pulled back and went for a thrust which Levi hopped away from.

The blue spun their staff as they walked towards Levi as she backed away. The blue stopped spinning after a few steps and swung high, Levi stopped as well and swung to block. The blue pushed down on their staff to force Levi's to the ground. "Amateur." Levi slid her staff along the blue's to strike them in the chest. The blue raised the staff and swung to hit Levi in the head. Levi ducked the attack and thrusted her staff into the blue's chest, causing them to stagger.

The blue went low to swipe Levi's legs. Levi jumped over the staff, the blue put to much force in the attack and was spun around, letting Levi get a free hit on their back. The blue gripped their staff at the end and swung as hard as they could at Levi's head. Levi ducked the attack and jabbed her staff into the blue's arm, making them let go of the staff, throwing it away. The blue turned to Levi to see her staff coming flying into their face, taking their head off.

The world returned to normal and Levi was back in the room with her clan mates. Lyle and Corina looked tired while Catherine was perfectly fine. Jade was waving her hands, when she stopped her expression froze in fear.

"How did it go?"

Jade took a deep breath. "We lost four zones. The ruby legion really did throw everything at us. They lost two of their own zones to the emerald."

"No..." Corina felt disheartened and Lyle looked away. Levi glanced to Catherine who looked unfazed. "Can I see the map?"

"Why?" Levi kept quiet, Jade groaned and projected the opal territory map. The four zones taken by the ruby legion were in a straight line to opal HQ.

"What were the zones Catherine was sent to protect?"

Catherine turned to Levi. "Are you claiming I actively sabotaged our legion?"

"Yes." Levi looked back to Jade. "Well?"

"Why do you need to see?"

"Humor me." Jade pressed a few buttons and the four zones lit up. Levi side glanced at Catherine. "Very strange."

Everyone's attention was on Catherine. "I wasn't having a good day today."

"Not having a good day?! We lost for zones!" Jade shouted as she stood up. "Two more and they'll be right on top of us!"

"I just couldn't concentrate! You heard what Levi called me? It weighted on my mind that I couldn't fight."

"I don't care about you're feelings! The ruby is cutting into the heart of our legion! You're a god damn gallant! A professional! Act like it!"

"Don't get high and mighty with me Jade. Lest you forget who gave you the incarnate system. If I'm having a bad day, I'm having a bad day. It happens." Catherine glared at Levi. "Especially with a little bitchy princess taking cheap shots at me."

"Cheap shots for cheap thots."

"Blow me Levi."

"So you admit you're not a woman."

"Enough!" Shouted Jade. "We lost four zones. Get them back by any means, And bring me Vincent I don't care what he was doing his first priority is to the opal legion! Now all of you leave, I need to think."

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	33. Boxing

Chapter. 33

It was Wednesday afternoon as class was drawing closer to ending Vincent received a message from Catherine. Vincent deleted it but was given another one, he deleted it but then another appeared. Vincent deleted it then blocked Catherine as he went back to his work.

Catherine took a pen from her bag and tossed it at Vincent who ignored it. "Vinny. Vinny, I'm talking to you."

As soon as the bell rang Vincent grabbed his bag and walked to Lyle. "Hey Lyle, you got plans for today?"

"Yes, I have boxing practice today."

"You do boxing? That's cool, mind if I come and see? Fencing doesn't have practice today."

"Very well." Lyle opened the door and the two walked out.

Catherine took a long breath then began typing out more messages.

"You said fencing?" Asked Lyle.

"Yeah why?

"You know someone named Peter?"

"Yeah he's the captain. You want to-"

"No." Lyle ended to conversation and kept walking. After walking down the halls they arrived outside the sports clubs, when reached the door to the boxing club Lyle stopped and then stood by it.

"What are we waiting for?"

"Lyle!" Corina shouted running down the hall with Rebecca. "Ready to go?" Lyle nodded as he slide the door open.

"You're in boxing too?" Asked Vincent.

"No, I'm in photography. I like to come by and watch my Lyle fight."

"You too?" Vincent asked Rebecca.

"Corina wanted me to come with her. To see other clubs since I'm not in one."

"Sounds good." Everyone walked inside the gym, Vincent searched the wide area to see heavy punching bags, speed bags, weight lifts, and a boxing ring in the center.

Vincent, Rebecca, Corina took their seats on the benches while Lyle went to the locker room. Lyle returned now dressed in looser clothing with a pair of black boxing gloves and headgear on. Rebecca noticed Corina waving her finger back and forth. "Are you okay?"

"Just taking some photos. I need some new materiel for testing my filters. Oh check them out!" Corina took a cord out of her shoulder bag, connecting it to Rebecca's linker. "These are the photos I took on the way to school today. Then there's the one I left alone to the ones with filters." Corina started rambling.

Vincent watched the club members train until the coach shouted for everyone to gather around him. With the club's attention the coach told them who they'd be fighting against. "Lyle and Sammy. You two are the first one."

Lyle glanced to another club member, they were a foot shorter then him and punched his fists together. "The tower falls today." Lyle and Sammy climbed into the ring with the coach. Sammy got out his fist, Lyle lightly hit them down then the two took a step back.

Sammy bobbed side to side with his fist up, Lyle kept his fist low as he stayed where he was, watching Sammy. After a Few seconds threw a punch aimed for Lyle's face. Lyle dodged the punch and delivered one to Sammy's ribs then followed with one to his head. Sammy staggered back while guarding his chest and face, when Sammy lowered his fist he saw Lyle hadn't moved. Sammy ran at Lyle and jumped at him to trying punching him in the face again. Lyle sidestepped to let he pass the punched him in the back of the head.

Sammy stumbled into the ropes, he pushed himself off of them then rushed at Lyle with a hard jab to the chest Lyle held out a hand to absorb to impact as he took the hit then struke with an uppercut, knocking Sammy onto his back.

"As good as ever Lyle." commented the coach. Lyle took of a glove and held his hand to pull Sammy up to his feet. Sammy patted Lyle's arm and the two climbed out of the ring. Lye took off his gear and joined his friends.

"That was great!" Corina jumped up to hug Lyle.

"It was nothing."

"You didn't really move up there." Commented Vincent.

"I didn't need to." Lyle took a seat next Vincent. "Boxing is a great workout, perhaps the most challenging of all sports. It requires speed, agility, finesse, power, endurance, and mental toughness. Boxing pushes you like no other, pitting the finest and highest level athletes against each other. It's a science but at the same time also a raw and brutal sport."

"I can see that. It's all about using your whole body."

"Yes. More importantly boxing takes you further than you ever thought possible. Boxing makes you more alive than ever, more humble in defeat, and most glorious in victory. Boxing reveals the true fighter deep inside every single one of us. Not to say fencing is a bad or lesser sport."

Rebecca saw Corina's body tighten up. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Corina sighed. "Come on. Let me show you one of the new subjects I had to do for my club." Corina's voice lost the cheerfulness it held before.

"You mind showing me a few things?" Asked Vincent.

"Sure. How about every these fights?"

"Perfect." Vincent and Lyle fist bumped then watched the rest of the matches. When practice was over Lyle lead Vincent to the locker room, coming back out with a pair of black boxing gloves on.

Lyle patted a heavy bag for Vincent to punch. "The first punch is the jab. since you're left handed you'll lead with you're right because your left is going to be your power punch." Vincent held up is fist with his right out a bit further. "Next, your foot work is important. You want you right foot forward and straight forward. Your back foot will be at an angle." Vincent moved his feet into position. "Don't keep them straight you want a slight bend in the knees to move quickly. Throwing a punch is more then just throwing your fist out, the power from the punch comes from your hips and your legs."

"Like this?" Vincent bent knees a little.

"Stances is good but lower the hands, it'll help you see what's incoming. If you have your hands at the sides of your head you'll be taking punches, it's better to get out of the way then counter punch. Here let me." Lyle lowered Vincent's right fist to cover his chest and his left to cover his stomach. "Now, Jab, the most important punch. It sets things up and it annoys your opponent. Show me a punch."

Vincent jabbed with his right fist, knocking the bag back. Lyle grabbed the bag to stop it from swinging. "Try again but twist it as it go forward, be sure you're far enough to get the full extent of your arm, that's where you'll get the most power. Also snap it, don't push, you want to jab then quickly bring it back." Vincent took a half step back then jabbed the bag again. "Do it a few more times like that."

Vincent punched the bag for a full minute before Lyle stopped him. "Now another reason the jab is important is that it measures things. If you can hit them with the jab or just barely miss them you can hit them with you main arm. It has more reach cause you're turning and leaning into it, giving it more force and more power." Vincent jabbed with right then punched with his left. "No. Don't wait when you left punch, it needs to come as you're pulling your left back. It'll give you more turn and more power in you shot." Vincent jabbed then fallowed with his left.

"Remember, winning fights is about timing, you don't have to be stronger or faster if you have the timing down you'll win. What hurts a fighter is surprise. If you see a shot coming you can dodge or block, but when you don't see it coming your brain shuts down sometimes." Lyle pats the bags. "Now do it again. The one two, it's basic, it's you can hurt people, you can knock them out, and if you miss with the jab you still have the main punch." Vincent threw his punches, this time a bit faster. "As so as you pull that jab back they don't have time to pull back, and if you hit with that jab you got them with the main punch. Now try to double up with the jab."

Vincent did so, even went with three jabs before the follow up with his left. "What else?" Vincent turned to Lyle who was looking at Corina was talking and laughing with Rebecca. "She means a lot to you."

Lyle nods. "Yes."

"Protecting someone precious. I never knew what it really felt like until I met Reby. How did you and Corina meet?"

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	34. A titan's rise

Chapter. 34

 _It all started almost a year ago. I live with my mother, we used to live with my father but he was too abusive. As technology advanced it meant jobs were taken by machines, the job my father did was one of them. He started drinking to deal with it._

Lyle walked up to his house and opened the door, as he stepped inside he heard a loud slap followed by a thud. Lyle throw his bag down and ran into the living room to find his mother on the floor with her hands on her face with father standing over her.

Lyle jumped in front of his father and blocked the incoming attack with his arms. Lyle's father kept punching Lyle who kept his arms up as he stood in his way. Lyle's arms started to burn from the pain but Lyle still wouldn't hit back. The father backed away and picked up a bottle from a table, throwing it at Lyle.

Lyle turned away and the bottle hit him in the shoulder. The father staggered into the hall and into his bedroom. Lyle kneeled down to his mother. "How bad is it?" The mother pulled of Lyle's shoulder to find blood.

 _We had enough and had to leave, mom filmed what happened and dad was arrested and sent away to do two years in prison. It gave us time to move into a smaller house across town. Mom had to start working to support us, she refused to let me start working while I was still in high school. A lot of people at school were fearful of me because of my height, some of the teachers too. I tried to look at it as a positive, it would give me more time for myself to study. It was a seemingly normal day when it happened. I was driving home from school, my usual path was blocked do to some road repair so I took another route. I stopped at a red light along side an alleyway, as I waited I looked down the alley to see a couple of teenagers, a man slap a woman hard enough to send her to the ground._

Lyle jumped out of his truck and ran into the alley. "Hey!" He shouted at the teen boy, causing him to stop.

"This don't concern you giant. Leave now." The boy cracked his knuckles.

"And let you hurt her? No."

"Last chance big guy." The teen punched Lyle in the face but Lyle held his ground as the teen kept punching him. The girl stood up and a sleeve fell off her arm, revealing bruises of different colors. Lyle relived that the injures weren't all resent, some were much older then others. Seeing the blue and purple spots on the girl's arm caused something in Lyle to snap with a realization, being a shield isn't enough.

Lyle caught the teens fist then twisted it as he punched the teen in the face, sending him to the ground. The teen stood up and glared at Lyle. "You think your tough big man?" The teen lunged at Lyle who punched the teen and put him down once again.

The teen stood up then glanced to a blank wall. "Fucking legion. You're lucky fucker." The teen walked away and snapped his fingers. "Come on Lilac, we're going." He stopped and looked over his shoulder to see the girl backing away. "The fuck you think-" Lyle took a couple of steps, standing between the two. "Alright. I'll see you in cyber space turncoat."

As the teen left Lyle held his hand to the girl. "Do you need medical care? I can take you in my truck over there." The girl took his hand and used Lyle as support as they left the alley. "May I have you're name?"

"Corina..."

"I'm Lyle."

 _"_ _I took Corina to a hospital then drove her home._ _It was a few days, maybe a week before I saw Corina again. It was just another day of school, class was over and I was about to go home when I saw Corina standing outside in the hall."_

"Hello, Lyle right?"

"Yes."

"I wanted to thank you again for what you did."

"It's nothing. How are you healing? Has he been harassing you again?"

"I'm getting better and no. He's on the fencing team so I've been staying away from there."

"Why was he acting like that? Was he always abusive?"

"It's nothing." Lyle placed his hand on Corina's shoulder. "You wouldn't understand."

"My father was abusive to me and my mother. We had to leave. Fighting is one thing but hurting someone who can't fight back is beyond wrong."

Corina looked around then to the now empty classroom behind them. "In here." Inside the two sat down by the window. "It was about an online game, brain burst." Corina explained the game to Lyle who silently listened.

"Can this game truly do all this?" Lyle asked once she was finished.

"It's hard to take in I know. It's really something you need to experience."

Lyle stood up and stepped closer to Corina. "Then give me this game. If Peter can't hurt you in the real world then he may come for you in this accelerated world."

Corina stared down to her fidgeting hands, after few moments Corina took a breath then stood up. "Alright. What harm can it do?" Corina opened her shoulder bag to pull out a cord.

 _"So Coco gave me brain burst and I drove her home. I drove home, spoke to mom, ate dinner, did some homework, then went to bed."_

As Lyle fell asleep brain burst began to worm its way into his mind. He awoke to a darkened sky, he felt small pricks against his legs. Lyle looked down to see a small village full of people throwing spear up at him with ropes tied to them. The spears stuck into his skin and the people pulled on the ropes to dragged him down. "Kill the giant!" They shouted with pitchforks and torches in hand.

Lyle swung his arm lightly to push the people back as he rolled onto his side. "I didn't do anything to you!" More people throw spears at Lyle who grabbed the ropes and pulled them out of his arm. "but I'm not going to let you hurt me either!" Lyle stood up and ran out of the village, carefully not to break any building on his way out.

 _It was the roughest night I had, I don't remember it but it was enough to wake up in a cold sweat. It was the weekend so I went back to Coco's home. She showed me how it was played, how to get points, and how to fight. A few days after that was when I joined the boxing team._

"Hey Lyle!" Corina greeted Lyle as he walked out of his classroom.

"Hello Corina. What are you up to?"

"Not much, the photograph club isn't meeting today. What about you?"

"Nothing, just going home."

"Again? Don't you have any hobbies?" Lyle shook his head. "Okay that's not going to fly anymore." Corina opened a list of school clubs and showed it to Lyle. "Take a look and pick one to look at."

"Corina..."

"I gave you brain burst so that makes me your parent, I have to look out for you. I'm not raising a hermit. Now pick one."

Lyle sighed then looked at the list. "This one." Lyle pointed to the boxing club.

"Boxing?"

"If I learn a base for fighting can it be cared over into brain burst?"

"I think so. It's something, so let's take a look."

 _The club welcomed me with open arms, mainly for my size and potential strength. After awhile I started to like it, boxing helped with the pent up anger I held for my father. Each punch, each jab, every strike was to him. Over time I worked it out and was able to move on, I found a new reason to fight for. The longer I was with Corina the more she tried to make me experience and learn new things. The more time I spent with Corina the more I learned about her and the more she learned about me._

Lyle drove through the city with Corina in his truck. He pulled up to a pier, he shut off his truck and climbed out. "What's here?" Asked Corina.

"Follow me." The two walked down the pier and watched the sun slow set behind the ocean waves.

"It's pretty."

"Not as pretty as you are Corina."

"Lyle?"

"I asked you out her because I want to, need to tell you something."

"Okay."

"I like you Corina. I like that I have you in my corner, I've been on own before I met you and having you with me, I've come to cherish it more then I thought."

"Lyle-"

"I know your last... If you'll give me the chance I'll prove I'm better. I swear it won't end the same."

"Lyle..." Corina held onto the rails and looked over the sea. "I've known you longer then I've been with Peter. You've been nothing but kind, a bit introverted but still... You're selfless, you're willing to take a beating for me, and you're just as much as a mess as me, if we're together maybe it'll counteract each other. I know I can be floaty but you keep me grounded and I help you move." Corina pushed off the railing. "Okay, if you're willing to go all in on this, then so am I." Lyle held out his arms and held Corina close. "Ground rule. You have to call me Coco from now on."

Lyle nods with a small smile. "I can do that."

...

"Eventually Catherine found us and asked us to join the opal legion. We've been going after the amber and sapphire legions." Lyle then turned to Vincent. "Then you showed up."

"Wow. If you know where to find Peter-"

"No. Corina has moved passed it, that's how it should be."

Vincent nods. "Okay, I'll give Peter an extra thrashing for you two."

"Thank you. Come, let's get out of here."

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	35. A Lilac's rise

Chapter. 35

The bell rung to Rebecca grabbed her bag and stood up as Corina stopped by her deck. "Hey Reby, you doing anything today?"

"No. V is busy with fencing for the upcoming fight with another school."

"Same with Lyle Come with me then!" Corina took Rebecca by the hand and led her out of the classroom.

"Where-"

"I got a assignment from the photography club. We have to take a pic of what we think is the 'spirit of fall' so I figured any help would help."

"Okay."

Once the two were outside the gates they spotted Levi headed for the parking lot. "Levi!" Corina shouted as she ran to her, dragging Rebecca along. "Levi we need your help. I need a photo of something cool for my club!"

"And how am I to help?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking."

Levi rolled her eyes then waved her hand. "Alright, I guess. Come on, let's go." Levi lead the other two to a black Ferrari.

"Is this your car?" Asked Rebecca.

"Why would we be here if it wasn't?" Levi poked the side of the car, causing it to unlock and the roof to retract. "Get in." Corina climbed into the passenger seat while Rebecca sat in the back. "Do you have an idea of where to go?"

"We're going to the park, just get a pic of trees with some dead leaves and you're set."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"If you're not cheating you're not trying hard enough."

"Alright."

Corina reached for the rear view mirror when Levi slapped her hand. "That's for the driver, not you."

"Fine." Corina rubbed her hand then turned back to Rebecca. "So how are you and Vincent doing?"

"We're doing okay. Thank you."

"Come on Reby, give us the details. How did you two met, hook up, what's Vincent like when you're alone."

"That's private Coco!"

"Oh come on, it's not like we'll shout what you say from the rooftops Right Levi?"

"I really don't care."

"There you see?"

Rebecca looked at her hands in her lap. "He's very kind and gentle, he always makes time for me, and when we practice or study he takes it slow so I understand it."

"Does he get upset or angry with you?" Asked Levi.

"No! Never!" Corina and Levi were taken aback by Rebecca's outburst. "He doesn't get angry at me. If I cost us a fight in brain burst he just says 'there's always a next time' and says sorry if he costs us the fight."

"So Vincent can be a human being. By the way how did you two meet?"

Rebecca fidgeted in her seat. "It was at... I was watching the fencing club when he came up to me and asked if I was interested."

"That's all? That's rather simple."

"Well what about you and Lyle. How did you two get together?"

Corina's shoulder's dropped as she looked out the window, her mood becoming somber.

...

 _It was over a year ago. Before I got brain burst I took life as it came, not really much different to how I am now. Anyway I was walking down the hall when I ran into the one who would change my life._

As the last bell rang Corina stood up from her desk and walked down the school halls. As Corina's attention was on her linker setting she bumped into someone and staggered back a step. "Oh, sorry." She looked to see a fellow student.

"No need to worry." The student was a male with light brown hair and eyes, wearing a white hoodie with red pants and shoes. "You need to be more careful when you're using your linker."

"Right. I'm sorry who are you?"

"Peter."

 _Peter and I would met and talk almost everyday. He was really nice and acted like a gentleman, had I known it was all fake I'd have stayed away, but I didn't and before I know it, it was too late and I was given brain burst._

"So how are you with online games?" Asked Peter as they had lunch in the school courtyard.

"I'm playing a few, why?"

"I got a game for you." Peter took out a cord from his backpack. He connected it to Corina's linker and started the download. "You'll have to wait till tomorrow before it's ready to be played."

 _After getting brain burst Peter would show me how to play, how to fight, then how to I need to keep points. After a few weeks he said he was being attacked by a powerful player and that he need me to giver him some of my points. At first it as a bit then he asked for more, then he demanded more, then threatened me for more. It reached its peak and I really thought I was going to lose my life, until I met Lyle._

Corina stood by an alley as she gentle rubbed her arms. She heard footsteps and turned around to see Peter standing before her. "Got them?"

"No-"

"The fuck is wrong with you?!" Peter grabbed Corina by her hair and dragged her into the alley. "You have one task and that's to get my points!"

"You want so much-"

Peter threw Corina to the ground and kicked her in the ribs. "Then you'll fight more! I don't care how you get them!"

"I'm trying-"

"Try harder! I need them for the next tournament, and I'm not losing because of you!" Corina stood up then Peter slapped her hard enough to send her back down.

"Hey!" Corina looked up to see a tall teenager running down the alley towards them.

...

"That's horrible..." Rebecca spoke when Corina finished.

"It was, but bad times are what make us stronger. Besides, I met Lyle in the end so I guess it was worth it."

Rebecca turned to Levi. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you-"

"No, I haven't found someone who meets my standards." Levi stopped the car outside of a park.

The three got out of the car, walking into the deepest part of the trees. Corina opened her camera options. "I need the right lens, no wait, filter too. Angle is what I need too, no angle is worthless without the light." Corina frantically ran through her setting.

Levi shrugged and shook her head. "I can understand how someone can get so into something that it drives them insane."

"Maybe it's because she's very passionate about it."

After a few minutes Corina took her photo. And done. This will make a good base to find something better." Corina strolled back to the other two. "Thanks for the ride here Levi."

Levi shrugged. "I didn't have anything to do."

 _"I didn't do anything to help."_ Rebecca silently followed her friends.

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	36. Updating

Chapter. 36

It was the middle of lunch break as Vincent and his friends sat around on the school rooftop. Rebecca stretched her arms up as she looked around her. "So what's everyone's plans for the thanksgiving break?"

Corina was the first to answer. "Lyle and his mom are coming over to spend it with my parents."

"That sounds sweet. What about you Levi."

Levi shifted in her seat. "What are you planning to do?"

"I... I'll have to see if my parents will be home for it."

Vincent lightly patted Rebecca's leg. "If they won't be there then you can come over and spend it with me and my family."

"Thank you V. I'll speak to them tonight and see what they say."

Rebecca brushed her hair aside to take a bite of her lunch. Levi watched Rebecca do it again. "Rebecca if you're hair keeps getting in the way you should cut it, or brush it a side."

Corina nods in agreement. "She's right. You have such pretty eyes too."

"Thank you." Rebecca lowered her head so her hair could cover her face more.

A notice appeared in front of everyone. Brain burst started up with a progress bar under it starting to fill.

"What is this?" Asked Vincent.

"It's an update for brain burst." Said Levi. "That's rare, the last one was over two years ago for version seven."

Corina clapped her hands together. "This is going to be good. An update means more stuff to play with!"

"Along with fixes to any issues." Stated Lyle.

The bar filled and vanished, in it's place was another massage. 'Version 8: Rushed Ruin is now installed.'. Everyone scrolled through the update notes.

"So better connection, new enemy types in the unlimited field, new fields to fight in, and enhanced armament mods?" Asked Vincent.

"That sounds like fun, we'll need to hit a shop after school."

"What shop?" Asked Rebecca.

Levi spoke to explain. "Shops are in the unlimited field and you can spend your points to get new armaments. Though they cost a lot so be sure you know what you're getting."

"I've never been to the unlimited field."

"Well yeah. You're under leveled, did Vincent never take you?"

Rebecca turned to Vincent. "You know the pain you feel after a fight? Double that when you come out of the field."

"That's why you need to be level four to get in on your own, you should be used to it by then. Still you can get in if you're connected to someone and they can get you in."

"That sounds interesting."

Levi brought her hands together. "Alright. After school we can all go to my place and link in to the unlimited field there. Also I got some info for Corina and Lyle on the emerald leader."

Okay." Said Corina. Lyle simply nods.

The bell rang to signal that the lunch break was over. Everyone packed up their belongings then went down stairs, all returning to their classes. Lyle and Vincent waved goodbye to the girls as they entered their classroom.

Vincent sat at his desk and opened a folder to find a picture of Rebecca gently brushing her hair aside to reveal her hemochromic eyes. _"Maybe I should get her a hairband."_

"You look happy." Vincent's mood soured as Catherine stood by his deck. "So... How are things with you and what's her face?" Vincent didn't answer. "You know I hate to be ignored Vinny." Vincent opened more program for his schoolwork. "That girl is bad for you, she's trying to change who you are. I would never do that and take you for how you are." Vincent still didn't answer. "Fine." Catherine turned to her own desk.

...

School was over for the day and the group left to find their vehicles to follow Levi to her home. A two story house atop a garage next to a stair case leading to the house itself. Levi snapped her fingers and the garage door opened, letting her park inside. When the door closed Lyle parked his truck in front of the door with Vincent's bike stopping next to it.

The four left their vehicles then climbed stairs as Levi opened the door.

"This is you're house?" Asked Rebecca.

"It's nothing really. My family own a global shipping company, I wouldn't say rich but well off." Levi lead everyone to the living room. "You all get comfortable I'll be back."

Once Levi was gone everyone took stock of the room. The furniture was well made and each piece was a red, the rug was clean tan color. A large fire place rested on one side of the room. Rebecca walked over to a van with fake green roses by a large window.

"You like roses?" Asked Corina.

"They remind me of my avatar."

"Did I ever tell you that you're avatar is beautiful?"

"No it isn't."

"Why's that?"

"Anyone notice that there's no picture frames on the walls?" Asked Vincent. Everyone looked around to see there weren't any. "You'd think there's be something in a room where you have people hangout in."

The door swung open and Levi returned with a bag over her shoulder and a tray carrying a pitcher water and a glass for everyone. "Drink up if you're thirsty, if not then lets get going." Levi handed a slip of paper to Lyle and Corina. Levi fell onto the sofa then opened her bag to pull out several three foot long cords. "To the unlimited field, my treat." Levi took two of the cords and connected them to her linker.

Corina connected one of the cords to her linker then took another to connect with Lyle. Vincent also took a cord to connect himself with Rebecca then picked up the other cord from Levi, putting it into his own to complete the set up.

"Let's go. Unlimited burst!"

The world shattered around the group, as they changed into their duel avatar forms the room there were in was destroyed with a large purple flower growing against the only remaining wall, giant purple roots grew out of the flower. Everyone walked out the ruins to see the in ruins with more purple flowers growing in the building with roots connecting them. All under a clouded night sky.

"This is creepy." Stated Levi.

"It's so beautiful." Said Rebecca.

"No point staying here." Corina took a few steps forward. "Well come on then, I want to see those flowers up close!"

Levi shrugged as she and Lyle went to join Corina, Rebecca quickly followed. Vincent glanced back at the large flower then joined his friend.

"Now... It should be here, somewhere?" Levi walked down the street, looking inside each of the ruins for their goal. She stopped in front of a large hole in the side of a three story building blocked by a large purple root. "Vincent, cut this out of the way."

"Got it." Vincent started shooting the root to build up his special meter then drew his sword. "Royal cut!" Vincent slashed at to root twice to cut out a section of it. "Lyle?" Lyle grabbed the freshly cut root and rolled it out of the way. With the path cleared they spotted a big metal cylinder, as they got closer it opened up and a holographic menu appeared.

Levi stood in front the menu. "This is interesting." Levi scrolled through the menu as she looked over the options.

 _"This is gonna take a bit."_ Vincent walked away from the group and saw a flower growing at street level. As he got closer to it Vincent began to hear a chiming sound. _"It's so... peaceful."_ Vincent started his recorder to capture the flowers sounds. Vincent reached out and touched one of the flower's petals, it felt soft yet strong.

"V?" Rebecca jumped to Vincent's side.

"Listen, and feel this." Vincent took Rebecca's and placed it on the same petal. "What do you think?"

"It's... wonderful."

As Vincent and Rebecca listened to the flower Corina and Lyle watched as they waited for Levi. "What do you think?" Asked Corina.

"I was censored when I first met him, the way he hurt Catherine. Seeing him with Rebecca." Lyle rested his hand on Corina's hand. "He was just rogue looking for something to fight for."

Corina held onto Lyle's hand. "We all are."

"Okay that should do it." Levi stepped back from the cylinder and turned away.

"So what did you get?" Asked Corina.

Levi held out her staff that broke into three parts, each connected by small metal rings. "My staff can now becomes a three-section staff."

"That's so cool! Do you know how to use it like that?"

"I'll figure it out. So who's next?"

Lyle ducked into the building and opened the shop. He took a few minutes to look then bought a mod for his shield. "So what did you get?" To answer Corina Lyle came back out into the open then swung his arm to hurl his shield down the street, the shield traveled down a block the went up and came back to Lyle, returning to his arm.

Corina ran to the shop and frantically searched for mods to buy. After a minute closed the shop then ran outside.

"So what did you get?" Asked Levi.

Corina pointed to a large piece of stone. "Lyle can you throw that up?"

"Sure." Lyle picked up the stone and tossed it a few feet into the air.

Corina held out her hands and fired laser bolts at the stone, burning it as it fell to the ground. "Okay can you do it again?" Corina waved her finger around as she changed her settings. Lyle repeated to act and Corina fired lasers again. This time each shot knocked the stone back to fall further away. "Impact mod. Now my lasers have some stopping power!"

Levi turned to Vincent and Rebecca. "Hey lovebirds! Come get your mods!"

The two turned away from the flower and ran to the shop. Vincent held his hand out to the shop to let Rebecca go first. Rebecca bought her mod then join the other, she drew her knife which glowed with an amber light. "I got a heat mod for my knife and gun. Now they do more damage to metal avatars."

Lyle nods. "A wise investment."

Vincent clapped his hands together then came out to join the others. "Okay I-"

The world around them was swallowed in darkness, causing Rebecca to panic. "What's happening?!"

"A new field is being formed. All the dead enemies will reappear, we might have to fight our way back." Explained Levi. The world shifted in a massive graveyard under black sky, the building changed into giant tombstones.

"Let's get out of here." Said Corina.

"Amen." Answered Vincent.

Levi looked around then nodded. "Dito." Everyone ran for the exit point when they all heard a loud screech. "That hurt."

"Up there." Vincent pointed to the sky, perched on top of the giant tombstones gargoyles took to the air and came down towards the group. Corina held up her hand and shot laser bolts at the beasts, hitting one of them, as it came plummeting to the ground Lyle hurled his shield and sliced it in half.

Vincent drew his sword and waited for one to come to him. Once it was close Vincent sidestepped the monster and slashed the top half of its wings off then plunged his blade into its head.

"Prism shift red!" Rebecca's body changed form. As her minigun and laser cannon warmed up she locked on to four of the gargoyles and launched missiles at them.

"Blaster, scatter!" Vincent's blaster beeped as another gargoyle came flying at him. He held up his right arm and fired several bolts of light at the gargoyle, stopping its movement while burning through its body.

"I see you also got the impact mod." Commented Corina.

Vincent shrugged in response. "You can't beat a good old shotgun."

The ground around them cracked as humanoid enemies broke out and climbed up. "Oh my God! They're in the ground!" Levi swung her staff and knocked the head off of one of the enemies. "No! No! This isn't happening!" Levi tripped another enemy with her staff the stabbed it in the neck with spike on the end of her weapon. "This is completely unacceptable!" Levi raised her staff and bashed an enemy's head in until it split in half. "Go back, start over, and don't return to me until you have something better!"

Rebecca and Vincent watched in awe. "She must really hate zombies."

"At least there's things we can kill on our own now." Vincent sliced an enemy's head off then shot another one with his blaster.

Attracted by the noise a hulking enemy came lumber around a tombstone. The monster was pale white, it stepped with its left foot the dragged it right. It's right arm hung at it's side while its left arm was twice as big and carried a greatsword over its shoulder.

"This'll be good." Lyle rotated his shield arm. The enemy limped towards the group, Lyle stood in its way and the monster swung its greatsword o him who blocked with his shield.

Corina raised her hands and fired laser bolts at the monsters hand, causing it to let go of its weapon. Lyle's shield shape shifted into a battle ax, he held the the weapon back then swung to chop into the beast's arm. Lyle slid the ax out to leave a open wound and Corina used her pigtail energy swords to cut even further into it. The monster punched at Lyle who stepped aside and let it fall into the dirt. The enemy used its left hand to push itself up when it arm snapped and it fell. In doing so the enemy swung its limp arm, striking Rebecca and Levi, sending them into one of the large tombstones.

"Reby!" Vincent right started to violently shake. "Cleanse!" Vincent held out his right arm and fired a enormous beam at the enemy, incinerating its head. After the attack Vincent fell to his knees, dropping his sword with a hand on the side of his head and the other on his chest.

With the enemy dead Corina and Lyle rushed to the rubble to dig Rebecca and Levi out. "How bad is it?" Corina took Levi's hand and pulled her up.

"I'll be fine. After we get out and after I feel the pain again."

Lyle lifted Rebecca up who saw Vincent in pain then ran to his side. "V!"

"Are you hurt?"

"A fifth of a health bar. What about you?"

"I'm fine, just a headache and chest pains. Nothing out of the normal in this world."

Levi watched Rebecca help Vincent to his feet then turned to Lyle. "What happened to him?"

"He used his special to kill the enemy."

Levi spun back to Vincent. "Special or incarnate."

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	37. The break up

Chapter. 37

The last bell of the day rang, signaling the begin of thanksgiving break. Vincent grabbed his bag and rushed out the door. "Still be there." Vincent opened the bag to find a black hairband. "Good." He jumped down the stairs and got outside to his waiting motorcycle.

A few minutes later Rebecca walked out of the school gates, she saw Vincent and ran towards him. "V!" Rebecca jumped at Vincent and hugged him.

"Hey Reby, you get an answer from your parents?"

"I haven't seen them yet, but they'll be home tonight."

"My offer still stands. I also have something for you."

"Can I come too?" Vincent and Rebecca saw Catherine walking towards them. "Is this how you treat me after all I did for you?"

Vincent stepped in front of Rebecca. "Fuck off Catherine."

Catherine stopped a few feet away from Vincent. "So you did leave me for her. For someone less then me?"

"V?"

Vincent took a step forward. "You're nothing to me bitch."

"Does Rebecca know the truth? About us?"

"Vincent?"

"The hell are you taking about?"

Catherine grinned as she waved her hand. A large photo of Vincent and Catherine sitting together in a small restaurant. "Was our first date nothing to you?"

"Vincent?" Rebecca's voice was starting to quiver.

"It wasn't, I just followed her to get food after a handful of fights."

"Then explain this one." Catherine showed another photo, one with Catherine sitting on Vincent's bike and leaning closer to him. "Did our first kiss mean nothing?"

Vincent turned to Rebecca. "That never happened!"

"And what about that gold brooch you bought me?"

"What?"

"Stop playing dumb Vinny! We went shopping and you bought me that brooch for me. You showed it to me today and said you put it on me after school. Now I see why you didn't want me to wear it."

"That never happened!"

"It's in his bag, look Rebecca!" Rebecca pulled Vincent's bag off him arm and opened it, searching inside Rebecca took out a gold brooch with an onyx in the center. "Vinny was two timing us both. He's a cheater who thought he could have us both."

"Reby don't-" Rebecca threw the bag and brooch at Vincent and ran to the bus stop. "Reby!" Vincent chased after her. Reby jumped into the bus just before the doors closed and drove off. "REBY!" The bus was already on the street when Vincent got to the bus stop.

Catherine dusted off her hands. "Glad that's been dealt." Catherine watched Vincent spin on his heels and charged at her. Once he was closer Vincent reeled his fist back. Catherine snickered, she dodged Vincent's attack then grappled onto his arm and threw him to the ground. "I didn't you a favor Vinny." Vincent pushed himself then tried to punch Catherine again, only for her to throw him down again. "I put up with a lot with you but it ends here. You will do as I say, got that?"

"Burst link!" The world broke apart at Vincent's words, reforming into itself into a vast desert dotted with temple ruins. Vincent drew his sword as he rushed Catherine, swinging it wildly.

Catherine easily dodged each of Vincent's attacks and she backed away from him. With her back to the wall of one of the ruins Catherine drew two of her daggers to catch Vincent's sword. Catherine twisted her daggers as she kicked Vincent in the chest, pushing him back as well as taking his sword away. Once Vincent fell into the sand Catherine throw one of her dagger into Vincent's left forearm.

"Blaster, shot!" Vincent raised his right arm and fired laser bolts, Catherine cartwheeled out of the way of each shot. Vincent stood up and kept shooting until his blaster had almost overheated. his last shot hit Catherine in the chest.

Catherine stopped and rested a hand over the wound. "Your aim is getting better. You hit me in the boob. Vanish!" Catherine's body disappeared in a poof of smoke. "But can you hit me now?"

Vincent ripped the dagger out of his arm. "Blaster, scatter!" When his blaster was cooled he shot in the direction the arrow pointed, he walked closer but still wasn't hitting anything. A dagger appeared and impaled Vincent in the thigh, causing him to drop to one knee. "That's right Vinny, kneel to your goddess. If you just did this in the beginning you'd have saved some heartache."

"Fuck you!" Vincent held out his blaster. "Cleance!" Vincent fired a massive laser but saw Catherine's health wasn't moving down. He moved his laser back and forth but it still had no effect. Vincent stopped his attack, he held his chest which felt like it was being ripped open and the side of his head that felt like it was collapsing in on itself.

"Over here Vinny!" Catherine threw another dagger into Vincent's back. "Are you going to listen now Vinny?"

"Fuck, you!" Vincent pulled the dagger out of his leg and stood up. Catherine threw dagger into his good leg below the knee, forcing him back down.

"Now listen-"

"Fuck you!" Vincent punched the sand with his right arm to keep his balance. "I was happy with Rebecca, and you had to take that away from me!?"

"Yes! Rebecca was weighting you down! Replacing your rage with flimsy joy. That rage is what powers your incarnate system, it runs on anger. So no, you don't get to be happy, it makes you weak." Catherine stood three steps close. "Besides, you have me now. I'd never change who you are unlike her, I welcome your anger, your rage, as you've seen and felt it makes you stronger."

Vincent's slowly stood up, his body was shacking as blood ran down his armor. He felt his arms beginning to burn. "So come on Vinny. Use your anger, lose yourself in it. It's more fun then you think, more fun then Rebecca will ever be for you."

Vincent screamed as he raised his fist and slammed them into the dirt. Vents opened on the sides of his arms and erupted with flames.

 **NEW ABILITY: WRATH**

Vincent spun back to Catherine and lunged at her at high speed. Before she could react Vincent threw several punches at Catherine, he reeled his left arm back and struk Catherine hard enough to send her fly. Vincent leap after and punched Catherine in the sand. "Yes. Yes!" Catherine revealed in the pain. Vincent grabbed Catherine by her neck and hurled her into the ruins. As her back hit the stone Vincent slammed her head into it and punched her repeatedly in the chest then threw one more into the side of her head.

"More. More!" Catherine rolled into the her to get to her feet. Vincent grabbed onto a chunk of stone, prying it off the ruins and hurled it at Catherine in one motion. Catherine was knocked to the ground, when she looked up she saw Vincent lunging at her with his fists raised over his head. "All of your hate, show me!" Vincent's fists landed on Catherine, sinking her upper body into the sand.

Vincent pulled her back up and punched her in the face, alternating between hand from holding Catherine's neck and punching her. When Catherine's health was low Vincent drew one of Catherine's daggers and plunged it through her eye, ending the match.

The world returned to normal as Vincent and Catherine staggered from the phantom pain. Vincent picked up his bag and walked to his bike, stepping on the brooch on the way. Catherine watched as he drove away. "Just a little more."

...

Vincent sped to Rebecca's house, parking his bike on the curve Vincent ran to Rebecca's door, pounding on it was he frantically tried to call her linker. "Reby! Please let me in! Reby! Catherine was lying! I don't know how she got that brooch in my bag but there's nothing between me and her! Please! Please open up! Reby!" Vincent's fists were turning red from hitting the door and his calls were being blocked. "Please Reby open up! I'm begging you please! Please! Let me in!" Vincent rested his head and hands on the door. "Don't lock me out... Please Rebecca... Let me in..."

A message appeared on the door. **You have ten seconds to vacate the premises before the authorities will be notified.**

Vincent pushed off the door and walked back to his bike. He glanced back to the house then drove away.

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	38. The truth and plan

Chapter. 38

The following day Vincent went to the opal legion HQ to take part in a strategy meeting with the other gallants. Jade pulled up a map of the territories to start the meeting. "Lyle, Corina. You two have found the emerald leaders home and hangouts?"

"Of course we did." Corina stood up to highlight two zones. "This one is his house and the other is his place of work. He'll have no where to run if we get them."

"Good." Jade looked over the map. "To get to them will need to cut through these area. He'll panic and and reinforce that line so we'll need to move and hit fast. I want all of you on this." Jade glanced at Vincent who hadn't moved since he arrived. "Vincent are you listening? Vincent!"

"What?" Vincent's voice was low.

"Are you listening? This is important."

"Fine." Vincent rubbed his eyes and looked at the map.

"I need you here to attack the first zone and punch a hole. Give it all you got so we'll still have some strength left to try and get the next one."

"How do you know if the emerald leader will be inn those areas?"

Jade looked to the others. "None of you told him?" The room was quite. "Alright listen. Charging into a legion will take too much time and manpower. So a bit of espionage is needed. Catherine acts as our spy to get the real name of the legion leaders and gives it to Levi. She uses her shipping company to find out if that person has had anything sent to or from their home."

"That can't be legal."

Jade shrugs. "Who are we hurting? Brain burst deletes the memories when it's one so the person just goes back to their normal life."

"You're willing to destroy a person's life for a game?"

"You took out Amber and Sapphire, you don't have any room to pass judgement." Jade let out a long breath. "Anyway. With the info of where they live Corina and Lyle steak out the person, finding out if they ever leave their legion borders. If not then were are they most of if not all of the time. Those are the territories we'll go after."

"What if they just turn off their linker?"

"In this day and age, how long can a person go without the internet. Even if they start using another linker they can transfer brain burst, how long can a kingdom last with a silent ruler?" Jade points to the glowing sections of the map. "Now that we know where to find him all of you will be fighting to get those area under our control. You'll be the first wave."

The door swung open and Catherine walked in. "Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?"

"You..." Vincent clinched his fists as he rose up.

"Hi Vinny."

"Don't you fucking hi me you fucking bitch!"

"Are you still sour-"

"You took Rebecca from me!" Levi, Corina, and Lyle turned to Vincent.

"This again?" I did what was best for you."

"What do you know about 'what's best for me' you fucking cunt!"

"Hey now Vinny, language-"

"Fuck you! Why can't you just can't stay out of life."

"Because I'm your parent, I'm looking after you."

"By throwing me to the wolves over and over?"

"Tough love. Trial by fire works wonders V."

Vincent swung his fist at Catherine, only for it to pass through. This only serviced to enhance Vincent's fury. "You don't ever get to call me that."

"Is that your pet name from her?" Vincent took another swung for it to faze through Catherine again. "Physical contact is turned off."

"I hate you. I fucking hate you."

"Good. That hate will make you stronger."

"What if I don't want to be stronger?"

"Maybe don't leave your bag alone." Vincent's breath was becoming heavy. "Yeah I put the brooch in there, and it was for a good cause.'

"A good cause!"

"She was a member of the ruby legion, what would the players of the opal legion think if they knew the one who took down two legions was screwing someone from an enemy legion?"

"I wasn't screwing Rebecca and I don't care what others think!"

"Still a cherry boy, that's a shocker. Besides you don't need to worry, Rebecca is being welcomed in her home legion."

Vincent tightened his fists. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Vincent took a step closer. "Nothing! I swear! Listen to me Vinny, Rebecca was bad for you. If so 'loved' you she wouldn't be trying to change you."

"I wanted to change! I felt happy, I didn't feel like I had to strangle someone everyday when I was with her."

"And that's why she was bad for you. You were getting soft, I fixed it. You're welcome." Vincent threw an punch that pasted through Catherine. "Again physical contact is turned off Vinny, but if you really want to touch me then come to the real world. I'll welcome your violence." Catherine turned and walked to the door, opening it as she looked back to Vincent. "After all, that's who you are."

Vincent punched the door as it closed, his fist pushed against it as his other hand rose to his face, a headache was forming.

"Vincent what happened?" Corina leaned forward on her seat.

Vincent pushed himself off the door and turned to everyone. "Catherine broke up me and Reby. She had photos, told lie, and even put a fucking brooch in my bag as planted evidence."

"Photos?"

Vincent waved his hand down then opened a file to show everyone the photos. "How did she even get these? I could explain them away but when the brooch came out it was over. Reby ran to the bus stop before I could say a word."

"Vincent." Corina stood up, he hands over her heart. "Those photos... I took them." Vincent slow straightened up and turned to Corina. "I didn't know what they were for! Catherine just asked me to take them. I wouldn't have done it if this was what they were for!" Corina froze when she saw the emotionless anger on Vincent's face. He tightened his fist and raised it.

Vincent swung his fist at Corina who tightened up. Lyle jumped in front of her, he caught Vincent's arm then hurled him across the room. "you're anger I get it." Lyle clinched his fists. "But I'll never let you take it out on my Corina."

Vincent raised his upper body on his arms, his hands on his face as his headache was getting worse and to cover the tears rolling down his face. "I miss her..."

"Oh for the love of God." Levi sent a message to Vincent, he opened it to find a recording of the conversation he just had with Catherine. "Take that to Rebecca and she'll be on you once again."

"How? Reby won't speak to me."

"She's in the ruby legion, right? They gather in the unlimited field an hour after the territory fights to restock on points. Take out the leader and the legion will fall. Rebecca will become a free agent then you can force her into a fight and talk to he then."

Vincent shot up and lunged at Levi, hugging her. "You're a God sent!" Vincent turned away and dashed out the door. "Vincent!" Jade shouted but Vincent was already gone, she pounded her fist on the table. "For fuck sake's!"

"It'll be fine." Levi waved her hand. "Vincent is quick to get angry but he's just as quick to calm down when he see logic. He'll calm down as he drives around town, wait until school starts again giving him time to make an 'I love you' speech."

"Are you sure?" Asked Corina.

Levi nods. "I'm sure of it. He'll be fine the next time we see him."

"I don't know about that." Said Lyle. "Did any of you see the look in his eyes? That wasn't someone thinking clearly, it was the look of someone that was hellbent."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Also this chapter goes out to a close friend of mine, BloodwitchRaven. I'm here for you love, please never forget that! I want to hear from you again!


	39. A desperate gambit

Chapter. 39

Vincent raced through the city as fast as his bike would go, his aim was to get to the heart of the ruby legion. stopping at a red light Vincent checked the time. "About thirty minutes left. Plenty of time, come on, come on turn green." Vincent tapped his finger on his handlebar until the light changed.

Vincent drove up the block when the world broke apart around him. Everyone was rebuilt into me made of gears standing before Vincent was Ocean Duelist. "Don't do it Tyrant. Turn around."

Vincent drew his sword. "Get out off my way."

"No." Ocean duelist drew his sword as well. "Teal put a lot of time into making you what you are now. I can't let you run head first into a legion to be ripped apart."

"Didn't stop you when I first did it."

"That was to see how well you'd do, but now we can't have you charging in to pick fights with just because you lost your girl."

Vincent raised his blaster. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Go back Tyrant. What Teal did was to help you." Vincent swung his sword to launch an orange energy wave. Ocean matched Vincent's movement to hurl his own attack to over take Vincent's. Ocean's attack clashed into Vincent, cutting him in half. "You have power, but your will is weak. Prism rose was a poor choice of a child, unless it was for another reason." Vincent raised his body on his arms. Ocean walked towards Vincent, kicking aside the severed legs. "I understand what you wanted. a shy. lonely girl. Easy prey. A little kindness and she'll do anything you want."

"Shut up!" Vincent leaned on his left side to fire his blaster. He shot at Ocean until his weapon overheated, each one was blocked by the duelist's sword.

"It's the shy one's that are the freaks in bed." Ocean noticed Vincent digging his fingers into the dirt. "Admit it. You picked Prism because she'd be simple to control and be an easy lay."

"Cleanse!" Vincent unleashed a gigantic beam of light, faster the Ocean could fully dodge. When the attack was finished Vincent's headache had gotten worse.

Ocean staggered back, his right arm along with a part of his torso was burned away. Ocean fell to one knee with his hand hovering over his scotched wound. "Alright then. You do have some power of will after all. Go then Tyrant. Vent your rage, use it, hone it, grow it, master it."

"Just shut up and get out of the way." Vincent shot at Ocean Duelist until his health was gone. The world returned to normal, Vincent hit the brakes and pulled over the side of the road. Almost hitting a parked car. Vincent took off his helmet to rub the sides of his head. After a few minutes to recover he rode to the nearest store to buy headache medicine and water. Stepping outside with his purchase in hand Vincent sat down at a bench to clear his mind.

 _"You know this is a bad idea."_ Vincent took the medicine with a sip of water to wash it down. _"Fighting people in a line up is one thing. Fighting a whole legion at once is suicidal."_ Vincent checked the time to see he had less then ten minutes left. _"Just wait till school starts again then she'll have to talk to you. If not then Corina can clear it up."_

Vincent drank all of his water then threw away the bottle. "Not happening. I'm not letting Reby go a whole week think I'm a creep who never cared about her. Besides, Jade wants me to get hr another legion. She wants the emerald, I'll get her the ruby." Vincent set the recording Levi gave him to ready. Clinching his fists as the clock winded down, waiting for the second. "Unlimited burst!" Once again the world broke down and rebuilt itself into a desert wasteland.

Vincent heard the sounds of battle carried over the desert winds. He ran in the direction it was coming from for a minute then saw a large foe being attacked by several dual avatars, all of them trying to chip away at the beast's health. Vincent charged his fury into his blaster and fired devastating beam at the foe, piercing through the its head to kill it. Vincent tightened his fists as his headache returned but kept silent as he walked closer to the slain monster.

Everyone turned to Vincent, many with their weapons at the ready. "Ruby Dragoon! Where is he?!" None of the avatars moved or spoke. Vincent fired a beam into one of the few standing building to bring it down. "I'm not fucking around here, where is Rudy Dragoon!?"

The avatars started to shout, blue and green avatar drew their weapon and charged Vincent. Surrounded Vincent fought to protect himself more then anything. He blocked attacks he could see till a mace hit him in the arm, breaking it. A green avatar bashed him with their shield and sent him flying back. Away from the mob the red and some purple avatars opened fire on Vincent, riddled his body with holes.

A faint blue color tinted the world as Vincent laid in the sand, a timer appeared to let him know he could respawn in an hour. "There's so many. I can't kill them all. Ruby Dragoon came to me only to see who I was, he's not going to fight me with this many players around." Vincent saw some of the players were laughing while some kept their weapon trained on his body. "If I come back they'll just kill me again. Was coming here a mistake? Am I going to lose brain burst here?" Vincent closed his eyes. "What do I lose if I lose this game. It's been nothing but headache after headache."

The Tyrant's mind turned to his friends, then to Rebecca. "Losing this game will mean losing everyone. Losing Reby." Vincent's fists tightened. "I'm not losing Reby. I'm not losing her." Vincent's arms hissed with power from his rage. "I'm not losing... I'm not gonna lose!" Vincent shot up to his feet. "I'll kill them all!"

 **Endless kill mode engaged.**

The timer shattered and Vincent was back in the game. He drew his sword and swatted away a blue avatar's hammer then swing his sword down on the avatar shoulder. Vincent raised his sword then cut off their head. Another blue attacked Vincent with a mace but Vincent ducked then swept their legs with a kick. Vincent stood up and plunged his sword through a green avatar's shield, cleaving them in two.

A blue avatar charged with a spear, Vincent sidestepped the spearhead and stabbed the avatar in the heart. A metal avatar grabbed Vincent by his shoulder from behind and spun him around. Vincent used the momentum to sink his blade into the metal avatar's chest hard enough to lift them off the ground. He pulled his sword out as a green avatar rushed him with a large shield covered in spikes. Vincent swung low, hitting them in the legs. As they fell Vincent swung his sword down to cut off their head.

Vincent lunged at a blue avatar who held their sword up to block. Vincent's blade came down with enough force to push the avatar's sword into their helmet. Vincent stepped back then reversed his sword grip to thrust this sword down the avatar's neck and into their heart.

The red avatars raised their weapons and opened fire to put down Vincent once again. "I'll kill you all!" Vincent respawned then launched a sword beam at the red avatars and split in half most of them. Vincent raised his sword to to catch an incoming ax from another blue avatar. Vincent slid his sword along the ax then swung the blade to cut off the avatar's head.

A green avatar struke Vincent in the side of the head and knocked him down. Vincent cut off the avatar's legs then sank his sword into their skull as they fell. A chain wrapped around Vincent's sword and almost pulled the weapon out of his hands. More chains bursts up from the sands and wrapped around Vincent to tie him down. A metal avatar rushed towards him and snapped Vincent's neck.

Vincent respawned and punched the avatar, taking its head off. More chain shot up from the sand to bind Vincent. He spotted a yellow avatar with chains for arms, Vincent's arms ignited with fire. He ripped the chain off his right arm and fired a beam to disintegrate them. The chains fell off and Vincent stood up and was being shot at by more red avatars. Vincent fired another massive beam to destroy more of them.

Another chain wrapped around Vincent's sword from a purple avatar. Vincent pulled on the chain to drag the avatar closer then grabbed them by the neck, he threw them to the ground and shot them in the head with his blaster.

A metal avatar grabbed Vincent by the arm and hurled him into the sand. Vincent dropped his sword and punched the avatar in the face to get them away. Another metal threw a punch at Vincent. He knocked the fist away with his arm then followed with an uppercut to take there head off. Before the body could fall Vincent hurled it at the first metal avatar to knock them down then killed them with his blaster.

"Enough! Back away!" All of the avatars distanced themselves from Vincent as Ruby Dragoon descended. "Everyone leave, now!" The legion ran for the exit points, away from Vincent. "I'm surprised you came here."

"Surprised? Maybe you'll have the appropriate reaction when I start cutting you open."

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Please review, it keeps us writers going. Also I'd like to give a shout out to two people for helping me write. Fear Ripper and BloodwitchRaven. Without them I wouldn't still be here on the site. Thank you both! :)

Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	40. Incarnate Duel

Chapter. 40

Vincent and Ruby Dragoon stared each other down as the ruby legion ran away under their leader's order. Once the other players were far enough Vincent held up his blaster and fired a laser bolt. Ruby raised his head arm and countered with a fireball. The two attacks clashed and canceled each other out.

Vincent leaped over Ruby and fired down at him. Ruby countered again with another fireball to the same effect. Once Vincent landed Ruby shot more fire at him who ducked then dashed towards Ruby. Vincent swung his blade ups but Ruby dodged and punched Vincent in the back then followed up by firing three more fireballs. Vincent swatted each attack away with his sword then lunged at Ruby. The Dragoon jumped back to evade then shot Vincent with four fireballs before charging one more to shot at Vincent, destroying him.

Vincent respawned and rushed at Ruby Dragoon as he drew his sword. Ruby raised his dragon arm but was to slow and his arm was sliced off. Vincent swung his weapon with rapid speed to carve the dragoon apart then burned the remains with his blaster.

Ruby Dragoon respawned in front of Vincent a few feet away. "You're not the only one-" Vincent fired a large bolt of energy at Ruby who crossed his arms to block but his entire upper body was blown away. Ruby respawned behind Vincent and shot him in the back with a large fireball, burning away his torso. "Not the only one who knows the endless kill mode."

Vincent respawned in front of Ruby and the two fired at each other, canceling each other out again. Vincent shot his blaster again this time Ruby jumped over the attack. Vincent swung his sword to hurl a beam but was also canceled out by the Dragoon's fire. "What the? How- fuck it, kill him!" Vincent rushed at Ruby with his sword pointed out but attacked with a punch.

Ruby leaped back and Vincent's fist hit the ground, sending sand into the air. Vincent stood up and swung his sword down on Ruby. Ruby dodged but Vincent followed with an uppercut to send Ruby into the air. Vincent jumped and grabbed Ruby by the legs and slammed him into the ground. Ruby punched Vincent to get him away then shot a fireball at him, which Vincent blocked with his sword. Vincent slashed at Ruby to cut off his arm then followed with a kick to the ribs.

Ruby charged up his dragon arm and shot Vincent in the chest, burning away his whole body. As so as Vincent returned Ruby threw more fire at him. Vincent drew his sword and ran into the hail of fireballs as they pasted by him. "You got power." Vincent dragged the tip of his sword along the sand then swung upward to launch a beam at Ruby. "But you're a bad aim!"

Ruby sidestepped the beam to let it slash through a building. Jumped jumped on top of a pillar then leaped off it for more air then swung his sword to launch two more beams. Ruby hopped back twice to evade then jumped to shot a fireball at Vincent. The tyrant jumped over the fire and hurled another sword beam. Ruby hopped back again to dodge the first then ducked to dodge the second. Vincent jumped again to threw another two beams but this time Ruby shot them both down with fireballs.

The two drew closer, Vincent swung his blade which was caught in the mouth of Ruby's dragon arm. "How do you know the incarnate system?"

"I could ask you."

"I asked first."

"I'll tell you a certain assassin showed me."

 _"Assassin? Teal Assassin? Catherine? Catherine?! CATHERINE!"_ Vincent's arms burst into flames that traveled along his sword, his headache was clearing but all he could see was red, all he could hear was a loud ringing. He cut through the dragon mouth then slashed at Ruby Dragoon, cutting him to pieces.

Ruby respawned and Vincent rushed at his and swung to take his head off. Ruby leaped over Vincent then flew away a few feet before he shot him with a fireball. Vincent swung his sword at the incoming fire, absorbing it into his inflamed blade then hurled it back at Ruby. The flames washed over Ruby but only drained a small amount of his health. Ruby flew at Vincent and his dragon arm bit onto the tyrant's sword, moving it aside as the Dragoon punched Vincent in the chest to send him sliding back then shot a fireball at him.

Vincent blocked with is sword and Ruby lunged his dragon head at Vincent. Vincent dodged then backhanded Ruby in the head, followed by a punch to chest and a full blast from the blaster, sending Ruby flying into a building. As soon as Ruby bounced off a wall Vincent came running in and punched Ruby into the airs as he ran past and kicked off the wall. Vincent punched Ruby higher and higher as he kicked of the walls then dive kicked Ruby out a window and into the sand, breaking through a pillar on the way down to ensure he died on impacted.

Ruby respawned and spread his wings. "Enough fucking around!" Ruby hovered over the ground then charged at Vincent. Vincent jumped over Ruby Dragoon but when he landed Ruby struke him from behind with his dragon head. Vincent ducked Ruby's next charge then jumped over him as Ruby came from behind again. Vincent threw a sword beam but missed.

Ruby struke Vincent hard enough to push him into the air then landed a few more hits by bashing him with the dragon head. The dragon's mouth opened to bite into Vincent's arm and Ruby swung him around then threw him into the ground followed by a fireball to end him. Vincent respawned and Ruby immediately charged him. The dragon mouth opened and bit onto Vincent's torso and Ruby flew forward to build up speed. Vincent couldn't reach his sword and Ruby grabbed his right arm so he couldn't shot.

Ruby crashed Vincent into a building and blasted him with fire, incinerating him. Vincent returned and immediately drew his sword to hurl beams at Ruby who dodged each one. Ruby rushed in to bite but bite dodged and shot him in the back with his blaster then chained it with a sword beam. Ruby turned to Vincent and the tyrant lunged up at the dragoon and slashed a wing off. Once the were on the ground again Vincent sliced Ruby in half.

Ruby respawned and took to the air to shot Vincent with fireballs. Vincent turned and ran with the fire at at his heels. He drew his sword and Vincent cut through a pillar, causing it to fall into Ruby and slow him down. Vincent dashed to another pillar and kicked off of it. Ruby's dragon mouth caught Vincent's sword and the two punched each other in the face, cracking their masks. Vincent fell to the ground while Ruby floated up and charged his dragon head. "Just die already!" Ruby unleashed several fireball at once at Vincent.

"You first!" Vincent charged his blaster and unleashed a flurry of laser bolts, many crashing to the fireball that would hit Vincent. Several lasers broke through the wave of fireballs, a few hit Ruby but one damaged a wing. As he fell from the sky Ruby charged his dragon arm, striking the ground and releasing a wave of fire, turning the sand around him into glass. Vincent crossed his arms from the attacked but was still pushed sliding back. He looked down and saw his feet were encased in the glass. Ruby raised his dragon arm and shot a fireball to burn away Vincent's body.

As soon as Vincent respawned Ruby charged his dragon arm again. Vincent drew his sword and threw three sword beams at him. Ruby launched a massive ball of fire that pushed through Vincent's attacks. Vincent gritted his teeth and jumped then fired a beam at the ground to push him over the incoming attack. Ruby ran towards Vincent as he charged his dragon head. Vincent ran towards Ruby as he charged his blaster. The two stopped a foot away from each other and threw their attacks at each other, firing concentrated beams of fire and light to clash in a battle of wills. Neither of them going to step down.

A knife blade burst out from Ruby's neck and four gunshots were heard as holes popped out of Ruby's face, all leaking blood. Ruby Dragoon fell into the sand as his killer was Prism Rose. "Reby?!" Vincent's blaster stopped and he dropped his sword. His body felt numb as the fatigue had caught up to him and Vincent fell to his knees. "Reby..." Vincent's left hand opened a menu and send Rebecca the recording. "Listen to it, please. I ask that you trust me. I never lied to you, this will prove it. Please... Trust me again."

Rebecca didn't move as she stared at the recording hovering in front of her. She looked to Vincent then pressed it.

 _ **"I hate you. I fucking hate you." "Good. That hate will make you stronger." "What if I don't want to be stronger?" "Maybe don't leave your bag alone. Yeah I put the brooch in there, and it was for a good cause.' "A good cause!" "She was a member of the ruby legion, what would the players of the opal legion think if they knew the one who took down two legions was screwing someone from an enemy legion?" "I wasn't screwing Rebecca and I don't care what others think!" "Still a cherry boy, that's a shocker. Besides you don't need to worry, Rebecca is being welcomed in her home legion." "What did you do?"**_

The recording ended and Reby kneeled down beside Vincent. "V."

Vincent lunged at Rebecca and held her tightly. "I thought I lost you. I would never hurt you. It was all that thot's doing. Please, please come back to me. you mean so much to me. Before you came into my life I was an anger, selfish, lonely man. When I met you, you gave me a reason to smile. Hope that not everything was pointless. I want you back with me, I need you. I don't want to go back to who I was before."

Rebecca pushed lightly against to look at him. "You and Catherine-"

"I'll make this super clear. There is nothing between us. Never has been, never will be. I'll sooner have sex with a running bender before I have any remote interest in that fucking thot." Vincent took Rebecca's hands. "Please. Let's go back to how we were."

"I..." Rebecca pulled her hand away. "I can't."

"What?" Vincent felt his heart sink.

"I... I haven't been honest with you."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

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	41. A prism's obsession

Chapter. 41

 _It was the first day of high school, almost a year ago now. I didn't know what to expect but it wasn't what I thought it would be._

Rebecca stood outside the gate of her new high school, she took a breath then walked though. Rebecca tried to avoid the other students as she brushed her down with her fingers to cover her eyes. "Hey new girl." Standing in Rebecca's path were three flashy girl, each circling around Rebecca. "What's your name new girl?" Rebecca's words caught up in her throat. "You deaf? We're talking to you!" One of the girl ripped Rebecca's bag away from her. "Let's see what you got."

"Tha..." Rebecca slowly reached for her bag but the girl stepped back as the other two stood in her way.

"Book? Are you an old lady? Get with the modern age." The girl tossed the books out of the bag. "What else is in here?" Rebecca hung her head, she felt mortified as the girls searched her bag and threw everything out. She heard a loud smack followed by a loud thud. Rebecca looked up to see a brown-haired teen boy standing over one of the girl now on the ground.

The other girl helped her up as they backed away from him. "You just signed your expedition! When we tell the pr-" The boy waved his finger to show everyone a recording of then digging through Rebecca's bag. the girl turned and ran into the school building. The boy kneeled down to pick up everyone and carefully placing it back into the bag then stood up to hand it over to Rebecca. Once Rebecca took it the boy walked away.

 _I heard a lot of horror stories about high school and after what happened I was ready to believe all of them. Until you arrived. It was the first time we met and the first time you helped me. The second time was two months later, when that storm hit._

Rebecca stood in the school entrance, rain falling heavily from black clouds. Rebecca opened her email to reread a massage from her parents saying they couldn't drive her home today. Rebecca closed the email and sighed, she brushed her hair down then saw the bus arriving outside. She ran out of the school and into the pouring rain, trying to reach the bus stop. The bus doors closed and drove away before she could reach it. Rebecca stood at the stop and watched the bus leave, her heart sank as it got further away.

 _"Just another day in my life."_ Rebecca turned around to go back into the school wen she felt the rain stop falling on her. She looked to her side to see the same boy standing beside her with an umbrella over them. The boy didn't look at Rebecca but stared off as if he was watching something. Rebecca kept trying to say something to the boy but the words weren't coming out.

After a while another bus arrived. The boy closed the umbrella as he went in, Rebecca followed him in and took a seat across from the boy who stared out the window. Silence hung over the two as they rode the bus, Rebecca was still trying to say something. The bus came to a stop and the boy stood up to get off. The bus drove off as Rebecca the boy walk down the street. "Thank you."

 _That was the second time you helped me. After that I tried to thank you but whenever I saw you I could work up the nerve. So I just followed you around and watched you._

The school bell rang and Rebecca walked out of her classroom, she stayed close to the wall as other students walked past her. Another classroom door opened and the boy came out with hands in his coat then turned to go outside, Rebecca stayed a few feet behind. As he walked the boy saw student harassing another. The boy raised one hand to make a fist then smashed it into the student's head. Sending them face first into the wall to knock them out, all as the boy didn't lose a step on his way.

 _Everyone saw you as someone to fear, someone to avoid. I saw you as someone willing to help others and not caring what they think. Everyone saw someone with a lot of hate. I saw someone with a kind heart who wanted to_ _protect others. The more I watched to more I wanted to know you. when I heard you were on the fencing team I wanted to watch. I was happy watching you fight, and at the time it was enough for me. Until..._

"Hey." Rebecca jumped at the boy's voice. She looked him in the eye for a second then turned away with her hair covering her face.

"You alright?" Rebecca didn't answer. "I've seen you around a lot lately. You into fencing?" Rebecca kept quiet. "Whatever..." the boy stood up to climb down.

"Rebecca." Rebecca forced the words out causing the boy to stop and turned back. "I, I'm Rebecca." She spoke in a fragile tone.

"Rebecca. I'm Vincent." The boy returned to his seat. "So you like fencing?" Rebecca nods. "You wanna try it?" Vincent holds out his sword to Rebecca. She slowly turned to Vincent and reached out to take the sword, weighing it in her hand.

"It's heavier then I thought."

"It has to have some weigh to it. That's how you hurt people, and that's why we wear the suits." Rebecca waved the sword up and down. "If you want I can show you how it's done."

"I... I don't know." Rebecca gave the sword back.

"Okay." Vincent and Rebecca watched the rest of the matches until practice was over and it was time to leave. Vincent went to the locker room to put on his street clothes. Rebecca held her hand over her chest, she felt overjoyed that she finally got to speak to Vincent.

"Vincent." Rebecca liked the name and repeated it. When the door locker room opened Vincent came out to see Rebecca was waiting for him. Silently Vincent walked out of the school with Rebecca following him. Outside Vincent went to the parking lot while Rebecca went to the bus stop.

"Hey!" Vincent shouted as ran back to her. "What are you doing?" Rebecca just hung her head. "You need a lift home?"

Rebecca shook her head. "It's, it's okay I, I'll take the bus." She want to take his offer but felt like it would inconvenience him to much.

Vincent waved his finger a few times then shook his head. "No way, you're not waiting an hour. I'll take you home."

"Okay..." Rebecca kept her head down as she followed Vincent. They walked to the parking lot and stopped beside a silver motorcycle, Vincent climbed on and offer the helmet to Rebecca. "Put this on."

...

"Riding on your bike was the most fun I'd ever had. The more time I spent with you the more fun I had."

"Reby." Vincent gently held her arm.

"I'm just a stalker. Because I couldn't talk to you I just followed you, Catherine's right, I'm no good-"

Vincent threw his arms around Rebecca and held her tightly. "I'm not losing you, Catherine is a fucking thot that no one should listen to. So what that you followed me around, you just waned to know me. Just as I want to know you. I don't want anyone else, I want you."

"V..." Reby hugged Vincent as she started to cry. "V!"

Vincent rubbed Rebecca's back. "It's okay. It's okay." After awhile Rebecca calmed down and the two separated.

"Thank you V."

"Of course." Vincent felt his chest lighten. "How did you get in here?"

"The ruby legion hung out is a gaming lounge called game grid. There's stand that a dozen people can connect to at once. Someone paid to let me in."

"How did you find this place?" Rebecca looked away. "Reby?"

"After I... Catherine called and showed me." Vincent's anger surged up again. Rebecca sent Vincent her location. "Let's get out of here. I want to see you."

"But before we do. We have a legion leader to kill. I swore I'd free you from the ruby and I plan to do it now."

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	42. Shattered Ruby

Chapter. 42

Vincent didn't see and arrow pointing to Ruby Dragoon. "Okay so he's not back yet."

"Let's got out of here V!"

"We can't. Ruby came after the opal after I killed him once. After this he'll hunt you to the end of the earth, a top of that he has an attack called judgment blow. It only works on members of his legion but it'll take all of you're points and that means losing brain burst and that means losing all of your memories of it and anything to do with it."

"Anything with.. You mean... I'll lose..."

"That's why we have to end it now. I got a plan-" A light rose from the ground and Ruby Dragoon was revived several feet away. "Reby start breaking things, build up your meter and go yellow." Vincent glanced back to Rebecca. "I know after what happened but, I need you to trust me."

"Okay." Rebecca drew he gun and shot at a pillar.

Vincent picked up his sword and stood between her and Ruby. The two stared down each other for a moment until they both raised their arm, Ruby fired a fireball while Vincent shot a laser bolt. The two attacks clashed and canceled each other out. Vincent kept his sword up and walked towards Ruby.

Ruby let out a chuckle. "You getting closer for a better shot?"

"I can't cut you to bits without getting closer."

"Well then. Okay." Ruby's dragon mouth opened and a blade made of fire emerged. The two rushed on another and their blades met. "Of course you'd be driven by a girl."

"If you just let her walk away we wouldn't be having this conversation." Vincent pushed his sword against Ruby's fire. "And I wouldn't have to put you down!"

"That's only true if you win."

"When I win!" Vincent fired his blaster, hitting Ruby in the chest to stagger hit then cut off his right arm. Ruby retracted his flame blade and shot a fireball at Vincent. The fire washed over the tyrant's back as he stepped out of its path.

Ruby charged at Vincent with his dragon head to bite him. Vincent sidestepped the attack and grabbed a hold of one of his wings, spinning him back into the direction he came from followed with stabbing him in the back. Vincent pulled his sword out and Ruby staggered forward to stay on his feet.

Ruby turned back to Vincent and swung his dragon head, extending his flame blade. "Real funny."

"Bitch I'm hilarious." Vincent spun his sword and rushed at Ruby. Before their weapons struke Ruby spread his wings and flew over Vincent, charging straight for Rebecca. "Judgement blow!" Ruby's dragon head shined white.

Vincent spun around as his blaster powered up. His headache had returned as he used his incarnate system. "Cleanse!" Vincent fired a massive beam, causing Ruby to evade. "You're not touching her! Blaster, scatter!" Vincent fired at Ruby as he ran to Rebecca.

Ruby hurled a fireball down into the ground, sending sand up into the air. Vincent stopped running. "Reby get down!" Rebecca dove to the ground just as Ruby flew over her. Ruby turned in the air for another dive on Rebecca, Vincent stood in front of her and swung his sword, the blade crashed into Ruby's flame blade, creating a shook wave.

"You're fight's with me prick! Leave her out of this!"

"You know a better way to break a man then to burn his girl to ash?" Ruby raised his arm and hurled Vincent into the air then threw him into the sand. "Now where were we? Right, judgement blow." Ruby's dragon head shined white once more as he dashed at Rebecca.

Rebecca shot Ruby with her pistol but her bullets only chipped his health when her clip was empty. Rebecca ducked behind a pillar when Ruby swung his dragon head, braking the pillar. Rebecca threw her knife, striking Ruby just below the neck.

"Fight till the end, good. Judgement blow."

 _"No, not like this... V..."_ Rebecca closed her eyes and waited for the end.

Behind Ruby Vincent grabbed a hold of one of the Dragoon's wings and slammed him into the ground. Vincent followed by plunging his sword into Ruby's torso but he rolled away. Vincent fired scattered laser bolts at Ruby, forcing him to retreat.

Vincent kept shooting as he backed stepped to Rebecca. "How's your meter?"

"Almost full!"

"Good enough. Do it!"

"Prism shift yellow!" Rebecca's body color turned yellow as it changed shape. Large hoops hung from the sides of her helmet that connected to a pale veil that reached the lower portion of her back and covered the lower half of her face. The armor on her shoulders and hips stretched out and sharpened. Her right hand was replaced with a large yellow rose.

Rebecca held up her right arm. "Petal storm!" The rose lit up and each of the petals broke off and flowed around her, creating a giant whirlwind of petals. Dragoon rushed into the storm and the petals were cutting into his armor, he saw his health was draining then ran back out. "Stay close to me." Rebecca pushed her back against Vincent's to keep him safe from the storm around them.

Ruby held out his arm and the dragon head opened up to breath fire into the petals. The petals gathered in front of the flames to guard against it. Rudy took flight and circled around the petals, launching streams of fire at it. "You're special will run out at some point!"

Vincent glanced down to Rebecca's right hand, with the large rose gone what remained was a thick metal spike. "How much is in your special?"

"I'm below half."

"Can he see us in this?"

"No. I'm keeping the storm to thick to see."

"Can you thin it out for him to see us."

"Yes but-"

"Do it."

"What?! But-"

"Please Reby. Trust me."

Rebecca looked at her special meter to see it was a third full. "Okay." Rebecca slowed the the petals flowing around them enough that Ruby Dragoon could see them in the center. "Now what-"

"Stab him good for me."

"What-"

"Judgement blow!" Rudy's dragon head shined with a white light as he dived at Rebecca. Vincent shoved Rebecca down, as she hit the ground Vincent dropped his sword held up his left arm. The dragon head bit onto his arm and pushed Vincent out of the storm.

Once Ruby saw who he got he stopped pushing and Vincent grabbed a hold of one of the dragon's horn. "Say goodnight dipshit!" Before Ruby could react Rebecca plunged her metal spike into the back of the Dragoon's head. Vincent pulled his arm free as Ruby's body fell into the sand.

Rebecca's armor revered to it's pale color. "Is it over?"

"How many points did you get?"

"Last time it was fifty, this time it was thirty eight."

"Fifty? You're level two so... Level seven?! He was that strong? Damn." Vincent snapped his fingers. "Wait less then fifty-"

"I got a massage, it says I'm no longer a member of the ruby legion."

Vincent pulled down the territory map. "It's gone. The ruby legion, it's gone!" Vincent hugged Rebecca, lifting her up and spinning her around. "You did it Rebecca! You took down the legion leader!"

"We did it V! We did it!"

Vincent put Rebecca down but still held her. "I'm so happy Reby, I thought I lost you."

"I trust you V, I'll never doubt you again."

"Thank you Reby. Let's get out of here, I'll speed to where you are and pick you up."

"Come with me, I know where the closest exit is." The couple ran hand in hand to leave the unlimited field.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

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	43. reconnecting

Chapter. 43

As soon as Vincent returned to the real world he was struck with the pain he felt in the unlimited field all at once. Vincent fell to the ground and screamed at such a high pitch that nothing was heard. Vincent rolled on the ground for a few minutes until the pain subsided. Vincent pushed himself up, with heavy breathing he limped to his bike. Half way there Vincent dropped to his knees as a large headache hit him. Vincent reached for his medicine but lost balance as the world around him was spinning, falling on his side. He closed his eyes then reached for his pockets to take out his pills.

Taking two pills and swallowing them whole Vincent pushed himself up then slowly stood on his feet. He opened his eyes to see everything was still spinning around him. He shut his eyes and took slow careful steps to his bike, opening his eyes only to make sure he was going the right way. Vincent reached his bike, he rested his hands on it then kneeled down. Taking deep breathes to try and calm his mind.

After what felt like forever Vincent was able to open his eyes without feeling sick. He opened his linker and put in the location Rebecca gave him. Vincent took a deep breath then climbed on his bike and drove off at a slower speed.

Ten minutes later Vincent arrived outside a building with the words "Game Grid" hanging over the entrance. Vincent walked through the doors to find the insides looked like a large gaming lounge with dozens of chairs and sofas around pillars for everyone to connect to with their linkers. Inside everyone was in a panic over the loss of their ruby legion.

Vincent walked in to search for Rebecca. Halfway several people spotted Vincent, one of them walked to stand in Vincent's way. "Hey who are you?" Vincent punched the person in the face, putting them on the floor. Another grabbed Vincent's arm from behind, Vincent grabbed onto the person's shirt and hurled them on to a table. Vincent felt dizzy from the encounter and held his face with his hand, trying to calm his mind. He slowly lowered his hand and turned around to see if anyone else wanted to fight.

As he waited he saw Rebecca stand up from a sofa. "Reby..." Vincent dashed to Rebecca and hugged her. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Vincent took Rebecca by the hand and lead her out as everyone got out of her way. Outside Vincent turned to Rebecca. "Reby."

"V. I-"

"Don't, we're here now, that's all that matters. The thot will pay, but right now it can wait." Handed Rebecca a helmet. "Care for a lift?"

Rebecca immediately took the helmet and put it on. The two climbed on to the bike, Vincent sent a message to Lyle then saw another message from Jade. "Where are we going?"

"To our friends." Vincent revved the engine then drove off.

...

It was noon when the couple arrived at the library. As they approached the entrance they spotted their friend waiting for them. Corina saw them coming and ran towards them, hugging Rebecca. "Reby!" Corina spun her around. "I'm sorry for what I did, I wouldn't have taken those photos if I knew what Catherine would use them for!" Corina let go and held Rebecca by her shoulders. "But I can tell you for a fact there was no love between her and Vincent!"

"Thank you Coco." Rebecca hugged Corina back.

"So the couple is back together now?"

Just as Levi asked the question Vincent hugged her then quickly let go. "Thank you Levi. This wouldn't have happened if not for you're help."

"It was nothing, really. Anything to piss off Catherine."

"Catherine." Vincent tightened his fists. "I need to see Jade." Vincent headed inside the library with everyone right behind.

"Who's Jade?" Rebecca dashed to Vincent's side.

"The boss of the opal legion." Vincent opened the back room door to the private room to find Jade waiting for him.

"You have any idea how long I've been waiting for you Tyrant?!"

"I'm not at you're beck and call. I have to tell you something-"

Jade noticed Rebecca standing behind him. "Who is this? Your child?"

"None of your business, now I have to report-"

"The ruby legion has fallen. I'm to guess that was you?"

"Yes, Rebecca and I took it down."

"Rebecca, huh?" Jade stepped past Vincent and held out her hand. "It's good to meet you, On behalf of the opal legion I thank you for breaking the ruby legion apart. I'd be happy to welcome you-"

"No." Vincent knocked Jade's hand down. "She's not joining your legion battles and I'm done fighting you. We gave you the ruby legion, on top of the amber and sapphire. I've done enough."

"Don't you forget who holds your leash Tyrant. As the leader opal I can destroy you anytime." Jade and Vincent stared each other down. "Besides, you agreed to assist in taking the emerald legion, and I will make you hold up your end."

"Taking out the ruby wasn't enough?"

"Was it really you who took him out?"

"Me and Reby."

"And Reby was apart of the ruby?" Vincent nods. "The amber and sapphire legions came under our control because you with the opal when you defeated them. If Rebecca was the one to beat him then the territory goes to no one. The emerald and topaz will picking up free land while we recover what we lost. What we lost because of you."

"Alright. Fine." Vincent threw up his hand. "FINE! I'll fight to take the emerald, but after that I'm done." Vincent took a deep breath. "Anyway, I need to tell you something important. When I fought Ruby Dragoon he was using the incarnate system."

Everyone in the room was shocked by the news, except Rebecca who was confused. "Are you sure about this?" Asked Lyle.

"Absolutely. He even admitted to learning it from Catherine." Vincent turned to Jade. "Your spy is a double agent playing everyone."

"Jade crossed her arms. "I know you two hate each other so I'll need some hard proof of this, for all I know it's just you wanting to cause a fuss."

"Then how about this for hard proof."

Levi opened her linker then sent a message to Jade. "This is a recording I made on Catherine. Give it a listen."

Jade glared at Levi then pressed play. _"You're lucky I need the opal legion but it won't protect you forever. Once it falls you're the first one I'm killing."_

"Need more or will that one be enough?"

"Why were you recording your conversations with Catherine?"

"I record all conversations with burst linkers. Never know when something incriminating will come up."

Jade sighed. "Alright. I'll start an investigation into Catherine. I'd like to know what she's up to."

Vincent nods. "Good, and for the record. Everything that happened with the ruby legion all started with Catherine." Jade rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Once she was gone Vincent took a seat on one of the sofas. "So, how did you all do against the emerald?"

Lyle took a seat on the sofa across from Vincent. "We took two zones. Just another three and will have the leader's movement's covered."

"Good, so just a little more then."

"V." Rebecca sat beside Vincent. "What did you mean when you said 'incarnate system'?"

Vincent took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "The incarnate system is basically when you're forcing your will on brain burst. It's when you're strongly picturing something happening, making up different ways to fight, making them real."

"Is this a secret power?"

"Yeah you can it that."

"Can I-"

"No." Vincent held a stern look. "The incarnate system is strong by it comes at a cost." Vincent lowered his gave to his hands. "Lately I've been getting headache from using it. Besides, it's used by using negative emotions. I'm not turning you into me. You're better then that Reby."

"V."

"Actually!" Corina spoke up. "The incarnate system can use positive emotions as well."

"What?!" Vincent took us but his legs gave and fell back into his seat.

"We all learned how to use the incarnate system with negative emotions from Catherine, but Lyle and I never got the hang of it. So we thought that if it could use negative, why not positive?"

"It works better that way as well." Commented Lyle. "Stronger too, and we've never had and headaches."

"Can you show us?" Asked Vincent.

"Yes. It would be best if Rebecca learned how to use it sooner then later. Let's go to the unlimited field."

"Alright. Reby I'll help you get in." Vincent opened his bag, he looked inside but everything was spinning again.

"V are you okay?"

"Yeah." Vincent closed his eyes and slowly opened them as he reached into his bag to take out a cord, handing one end to Rebecca and connecting the other to his linker. "Unlimited Burst."

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	44. From negative to positive

Chapter. 44

The group returned to the unlimited field, the land around them was covered in water that reached half way up to their knees along with small hills of sand rising slightly above the water.

"This is new." Corina kicked up some water. "Water is games are always cool to look at."

"We going to get to work or are you going to play in the water?" Asked Levi.

"Can't I do both?"

Levi shook her head. "Alright. Lyle can you Vincent you're way of using the incarnate system? Corina and I will handle Rebecca till you two are done."

"Very well." Lyle and Vincent walked away from the girls, stopping once they were a good distance away. "Alright Vincent, tell me how you use your system."

"To use it I think of everything I hate. The people I hate. The one I hate most of all." Vincent starting to think of Catherine, then to everything she's done to him, then to Rebecca. "That fucking witch will fucking pay."

"Vincent." Vincent clinched his fists. "Vincent!" Lyle spoke in a higher tone, snapping Vincent out of his thoughts. "You need to calm yourself."

"I'm trying, damn it!"

"Try thinking of something positive. Try thinking of Rebecca."

"Aright." Vincent thought about the time he and Rebecca went out to a diner, which let him relax. He then thought about when they shared their first kiss, but then he thought about when Rebecca ran away from him. All because of Catherine. Vincent's body tensed up again.

"Vincent!" Lyle snapped Vincent back. "What do you think about?"

Vincent groaned. "I tried thinking of Reby, but then I start thinking of Catherine and what that fucking thot has done."

"Vincent. Listen to me, what she did was wrong but you must rise above her. You must learn to forgive her."

"Forgive her? Forgive her!? How?! I'll never forgive that fucking thot for want she did!"

"And that's exactly what Catherine wants. By staying angry at Catherine you're letting her effect you, you're letting her control you, giving her power over you. Power she doesn't deserve."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because it was the same thing with my father." Vincent's body relaxed. "I hated my father for hurting my mother and I was in the same place you are. I could never forgive him but mom said to forgive him. Holding on to that anger won't change anything and that living well without him is the best kind of revenge."

"You forgave him?"

"Not at first. It was hard, impossible even but then I found someone to take my mind off my father." Lyle turned to Corina. "Someone who was worthy, more deserving of my attention."

Meanwhile Levi and Corina lead Rebecca to one of the small islands. Levi clapped her hands together. "So, what do you need to know about the incarnate system."

"The incarnate system is you telling brain burst what to do." Explained Corina. "To use this system you first need to think of something and image you're doing it, also you need to power it by your emotions. What we're aiming for is a positive one."

"Okay." Rebecca's mind immediately turned to Vincent. She thought about when they first met, when she rode on Vincent motorcycle, then when he cut his way through a legion to get her back.

"You got something?" Asked Corina.

"Yes."

"Good. Now hold on to it and think about how it makes you feel. It'll charge your uses of the incarnate system."

"How long will it take?"

"Well it took us all about four or five days to get it down somewhat."

"Four days? Here?" Rebecca looked around. "But what about the monsters?"

"If any come here we'll deal with them then get back to work."

"But still... To be in this place for days..."

"Reby!" Rebecca snapped out of her thoughts and spun to Levi. "How bad do you want this power?"

"I want it. I want to fight with all of you."

"Then don't think about how long it'll take. When you want something bad you can't count the cost. Because if you see the cost you might quit, you might give up. That's why you never count the cost. You just do what you have to, to get what you want."

"Levi."

Corina grabbed onto Rebecca's shoulder. "Listen to me Reby, You're avatar is made because you're indecisive, you don't know who you are, but once you know you'll stop acting out of desperation. You stop saying yes to things you shouldn't be saying yes to, you stop following because you don't know what to do. It's because you don't trust yourself that you can't lead yourself. What I'm saying is your belief is off." Corina pointed to Vincent and Lyle, then to Levi. "Everyone here can see how sweet you are. We say things like, 'you can do this' or 'you can do that' because we believe you can. You just have to believe that you can!"

Levi nods. "And if you want something strongly enough then fight for it. Work day and night for it. To give up time, peace, and sleep for it. If your dream are about it, and life seems useless without it. If you gladly sweat for it, fret over it, plan for it, and go after it with all of your strength then you'll get it."

"Thank you Coco, Levi." Rebecca nods and pumps her fists. "I'll do it! I want the incarnate system! I want to fight along side all of you!"

Corina released Reby and Levi patted her shoulder. "Then let's get started. First think of something you want to do with your powers."

Vincent looked away and sighed. Lyle rested his hand on Vincent's arm. "Vincent, I'm asking that do yourself a favor. Make a promise."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't everything will fall apart. Even if you do it's still going to be hard, but the promise will hold you to yourself. So I want you to say 'I promise.' Alright?" Vincent glanced to Rebecca again. "Now I know things happen, that's life and I get that. Still I want you to make that promise, not to me, not Rebecca, not to anyone but yourself."

Vincent felt a weight in his chest. He looked at the hand on his arm then up to Lyle. "Alright. I... I promise. I promise to do better. To be better. I promise to be a better person then I was before."

"Good." Lyle removed his hand. "Now take that negativity and turn it into something positive. Think of Catherine, what would make you happy?"

"Rubbing her nose into her failed plan. Reby and I are back together and stronger for it." Vincent snickered. "I really want to see her face then."

"Then after that?"

"I... I guess I'd move on. With someone more deserving of my attention."

"Very good Vincent. Now we should get back to work."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

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	45. Exhausted

Chapter. 45

"Cleanse!" Vincent fired a large beam into the sky.

"Any easier?" Asked Lyle who stood behind him.

"It's getting there. Still feeling pains in my head."

"You've been at it for four days. That's to be expected." Lyle gentle patted Vincent's arm. "You might have a bad headache when we get back."

"I've been having headaches all day in the real world."

"Let's see how Rebecca is doing." The two walked over to Corina and Levi watching over Rebecca. "How is she doing?"

Levi spun to face Lyle. "Watch. Rebecca go again!"

"Prism Shift Yellow!" Rebecca's armor changed its shape and color. "Petal Storm!" Rebecca held up her arm and rose on her arm broke apart into petal whirling around her.

"How's it going in there!?" Shouted Corina but Rebecca didn't answer. Sighed then turned to the others. "She's getting there."

The storm subsided as the petals gathered onto Rebecca's arm. Her armor returned to it's normal shape and color. "How was that?" Rebecca asked short on breath.

Levi patted her shoulder. "You did better this time too. You're uses is getting longer little by little. Now that you have a handle on the incarnate system we should get out of here so you're mind can rest."

"I second that." Commented Lyle. The group gathered at the exit point to return.

Once everyone was back in the real world Corina stretched her arms up. "Now that was a fun trip, but it's good to be back."

"Thank you everyone." Said Rebecca.

"Anything for a friend."

"Vincent?" Lyle noticed Vincent hadn't moved since they came back.

Vincent leaned forward and threw up on the floor then fell over on the arm of the sofa.

"V!" Rebecca and Lyle jumped up.

"Vincent look at me!" Vincent slowly opened his eyes. "Vincent how many fingers do you see?"

Vincent shut his eyes and covered her face. "Everything's spinning."

"Sounds like Vertigo, but our time in the unlimited field wasn't that strenuous." Levi glanced to Rebecca. "Can you tell us about what happened with the ruby legion?"

"The legion was fighting a monster when Vincent showed up. He shot the monster in the head and killed it. After that he fought the whole legion, each time they killed him Vincent killed several of them until Ruby Dragoon arrived."

"What happened then?" Asked Corina.

"It was incredible. The two were destroying each other."

"Then returning to the real world." Lyle shuttered. "I can't even imagined what that phantom pain must have felt."

Rebecca turned her gaze to Vincent. "I had to know why Vincent was doing this, going through so much pain. I attacked Ruby and spoke to V, we talked then we defeated Ruby together."

"That's so sweet and badass!" Cheered Corina.

"Still." Lyle checked Vincent to find him asleep. "He needs to rest. The mental strain must have been too high."

"I'll have to thank him as soon as he wakes up."

Corina snapped her fingers. "I have an idea."

...

Vincent stirred as he reawoke. He blinked to clear his vision to see Rebecca looking down at him. "Hello V. Do you feel better?"

Vincent became fully aware of his surroundings, finding himself laying on the sofa with his head on Rebecca's lap. "What happened?"

"You passed out almost right after we got back." Rebecca ran her fingers through Vincent's hair. "You go through so much pain, for me."

"It's just what a good boyfriend does. I know you'd do the same for me."

"V."

Vincent turned to the other sofa to find it empty. "Where's everyone?"

"The others left a long time ago. Levi had some business and Lyle and Coco had to get home. The library is closing in a couple hours so we have time if you still need more rest."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost three hours."

"That long? Sorry about that."

"It's alright. I got to watch you sleep."

"Really."

Rebecca looked away. "I'm sorry, that was creepy."

"It's fine, whatever makes you happy." Vincent pulled himself up. He took a breath then stood up.

"V!"

Vincent took a few steps then walked around the room. "I feel better now, no more spinning so I think we can go." The two left the library and walked to Vincent's bike, Vincent piked up a helmet and stared at it."V, are you sure you're okay?"

Vincent exhaled then handed the helmet to Rebecca. "You know what? I'd say it's time you learned how to ride a bike."

"What?! But I don't have a licence!"

"So? I didn't have one when I got the bike. I drove it home then got my licence. I'l help you drive it home and if you like it then you can get a licence.. Think of it as a trial run." Rebecca took and put on the helmet then climbed onto the bike. "You know how to start it up?" Rebecca held the clutch then pressed the ignition button until the engine turned on. Rebecca smirked at Vincent who laughed.

"I'll make a biker chick out of you yet." Vincent put on a spare helmet and climbed on the bike, wrapping his arms around Rebecca's waist. "All set. Ready when you are." Rebecca revved the engine and drove into the street.

...

The sun was setting as the couple arrived outside of Rebecca's house. The two got off the motorcycle, Rebecca took off her helmet and straightened her hair. "That was incredible!"

"I knew you'd have fun." Vincent also took off his helmet. "You hungry?"

"I'm getting there." The couple held hands as they stepped inside. The pair tossed their helmets on the sofa as they made their way to the kitchen.

"What do you like?" Vincent asked as he searched for food. "Reby?" Vincent saw Rebecca sitting at the counter in deep thought. "Reby!" Rebecca snapped back to reality. "You okay?"

"Sorry."

"Why?" silence hung in the air before Vincent spoke again. "So what are you hungry for?"

"Anything is fine."

"Chief's choice then." After their dinner the two went upstairs, Rebecca opened the door to her room and stepped inside. "Here it is."

The room had peach colored walls with a pale roof and a chandelier to offer light. The floor was hardwood with a large saggy rug in the center, across from the door is a window next to a desk with wooden animal carvings on it. In the corner was a two door closet with red, purple, and green vines painted on them. Next to the door was the bed made with a lime green frame with green and red sheets and two large teddy bears on it.

Rebecca waited on baited breath to hear Vincent's criticisms. "You got a shag rug?" Vincent laid on the rug, rubbing his face and hands on it. "I love these things." Rebecca watched Vincent, causing her to snicker then full out laughed. "What's so funny?"

Rebecca laid on the rug beside Vincent. "Thank you V."

"For what?"

"For always being here for me." Rebecca nestled up against Vincent. "And I'm sorry."

"Reby stop right there. It happened and we fixed it. It's in the past now."

!#$%^&*()_+}"?:{

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	46. Swap Meet

Chapter. 46

The sun's rays broke through Rebecca's window, waking her up. Rebecca sat up in her bed and rubbed eyes. She checked the time then jumped out of bed, Rebecca opened her closet and grabbed her clothes for the day, a sky blue sweater with white pants and shoes. After her shower and getting dressed Rebecca grabbed her motorcycle helmet and ran down the stairs, jumping down the last three.

Rebecca rushed to the kitchen, tossing two slices of bread into the toaster then began frying an egg.

Rebecca heard someone else coming down the stairs and saw her parents. The first was her father who had short black hair with purple eyes, the mother had long amber hair with pale green eyes. Both of them wore dark red pants and shoes with a white coat over bright green shirts.

"Morning!" Rebecca waved to her parents.

"You're up early." The father started the coffee machine. "You feeling better?"

"Huh?"

"You came home two days ago, ran into your room and wouldn't come out. Now you're shining." Commented her mother.

"Oh yeah. I'm good!" Rebecca threw salt and pepper on her cooking egg.

Rebecca cleared his throat. "Listen Rebecca. We talked with the hospital but, we're still going to be on staff on thanksgiving." The parents braised for Rebecca's disappointment.

"It's fine, you do what you have to do to pay the bills." Rebecca moved the fried egg onto a plate when her toast was done. She moved her food to the table and ate quickly.

While Rebecca's parents watched intently until the mother noticed the helmet she picked it up and showed it to her husband. "What's this for Rebecca?"

Rebecca finished her food then put her plate in the sink and grabbed the helmet. "Bye mom, bye dad!" Rebecca dashed out the front door.

"Rebecca!" Her father shouted but the door was closed, the parents looked out the window to see someone in white pants and a green hoodie drive up to the front of the house on a motorcycle. They stopped once for a moment to let Rebecca on then drive off.

...

After a few minutes Vincent and Rebecca arrived outside of a large parking lot with filled with a sea of stands and people selling all kinds of things. "What's this place?" Asked Rebecca as the two got off.

"Never been to a swap meet? It's the best place to find almost anything." Vincent held his hand to Rebecca. "Shall we?"

"Yes. Oh! My parents said they have to work on thanksgiving."

"That sucks. Well, you're still welcome to coming over and be with my family."

"Thank you, I'll do that."

"Cool." The two held hands and walked into the swap meet.

Walking by the stands Rebecca saw they all sold various things, from clothes, to car parts, and even hand made items. "How do you find anything in this place?"

"That's part of the fun. You don't really know what you want until you see it."

Walking deeper in Rebecca let go of Vincent when she saw a stand selling painted skulls. Vincent followed Rebecca as she looked them over. He turned away to look at the stands that are close by.

Vincent stopped at a stand with glass figurines. "These look nice." Looking over everything on the table he spotted a black horse with bright red legs and hair, standing on it hind legs. "I'll have this please." Vincent pointed to the glass horse.

The person manning the stand took the horse, wrapping it up in paper then putting it in a bag. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

"V!" Vincent spun around to see Rebecca holding up dark blue duster coat. "I got this over there!" Rebecca pointed a stand selling coats.

"This for me?" Vincent took off his hoodie then gave it to Rebecca as he put on the duster. "How do I look?"

"Really nice."

"Thanks. This is for you." Vincent held out the bag to Rebecca. Rebecca opened the bag to find to glass horse. "Saw all the wooden figures on your desk, thought you might like some glass-"

Rebecca lunged at Vincent and hugged him. "Thank you!"

Vincent gentle held Rebecca and stroked her hair. "Anything to make you smile." Vincent placed his arm around Rebecca's back as they continued through the swap meet.

After walking around for almost half an hour Vincent stopped at a stand selling boxing memorabilia, spotting an old set of brown boxing gloves. "I think Lyle would like that."

"Then let's get it for him, but we'll have to get something for Coco and Levi too." Rebecca raised her hand to the side of her head. "What does Levi like?"

"We'll find something for her, and if she doesn't like it we'll just tell her, 'fuck off bitch we didn't have to get you anything.' and leave it at that."

"Okay then."

"Now then." Vincent rubbed his hands together. "Coco likes cameras, so let's get her a real one." The two walked around the swap meet for another twenty minutes before they found someone selling old cameras. After they made their purchase the couple spotted someone selling small fruit salads next to some outdoor tables and chairs. The two bought their food and took their seats to rest.

"So how is it?"

Rebecca took a bite out of a pineapple. "Juicy!"

"I'll take that as it's good then." Vincent ate a slice of a pear. "So any ideas on what to get for Levi?"

"She's pretty well off so I don't know what to get if she can get anything."

"Well what do we know about her?" Vincent leaded back in his chair. "Honestly I got nothing."

"We don't know anything about her, and she's our friend."

"Okay when school starts up again we're going to speak to Levi and learn something about her. I owe her too much."

Rebecca shivered as a strong wind blew through. "Well winter in almost here so maybe something useful would be a good idea."

"Practical is never a bad thing. So what do you have in mind?"

"You know how she's always wearing that dark blue overcoat? Let's get one that's another color."

"Alright ready when you are." The two finished their food then stood up to leave. "One more thing." Vincent draped his duster over Rebecca. "Don't think I didn't see you shiver there."

"Thank you V." The two returned to the stand that Rebecca bought the duster and purchased a dark brown, furred overcoat. "Think Levi will like it?"

"She better. Fur is like one of the best at keeping you warm."

...

The two spent the rest of the day looking through all the different stands, the sun was starting to set and some of the stands were beginning to pack up to leave. As they were walking to Vincent's motorcycle they saw a stand that sold oil paintings. "Those look really nice."

Rebecca leaned closer for a better look. "Isn't oil painting hard to do?"

"I don't know, maybe. I swing a sword, not a brush." Vincent looked over the paintings until he saw one of a knight holding up his shield and cape to protect a woman in a blue dress from am angry mob as they walked out of a castle gate and into the plains. Vincent quickly turned to the person running the stand. "I want that painting."

"What painting?" Rebecca saw the one the stand owner handed to Vincent as he paid for it. "It's beautiful."

Vincent took the painting and lead Rebecca to his motorcycle, the two put their items in the bike's carry bags and rode off.

...

The sun had set as The couple arrived outside of Rebecca's house. Rebecca climbed off with her bag and removed her helmet. "Thank you V, for today."

"We'll go again sometime, you'll find all sorts of stuff you never knew you wanted. Oh yeah." Vincent reached into one of the bags and handed Rebecca the painting. "This is for you."

"V I can't-"

"Yes you can Reby. Hang it somewhere you'll see it often, know that you're not alone." Vincent climbed off his bike and kissed Rebecca's hand. "Don't worry my goddess. I will be you're shield."

"V..." Vincent leaned closer, he kissed Rebecca then returned to his bike.

"I'll put you up thursday morning, that a good time?"

"Yes." Vincent nods and drives off, when he was out of sight she relived she was still wearing his duster.

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	47. The Second Invasion

Chapter. 47

Vincent pulled up his motorcycle in front of the library. He and Rebecca dismounted and walked inside, they found an empty room and connected to the server. Once online Vincent lead the way to the opal HQ. the palace doors opened and just after the two stepped into the lobby Vincent was hit with an invite from Jade to a private room.

"Nose to the grindstone that one. You want to come or look around?"

"I'll be fine this place is so pretty."

"Alright, call me if you need anything." Vincent accepted the invite and a door appeared in front of him. Vincent opened the door and walked into the meeting room to find the others waiting for him."

"You're late." Said Jade.

"Did the fights start? Then I'm not late. Besides were not fighting today." Vincent placed his hands on the table in the center of the room. "So what do we have?"

Jade pulled up a map of the city. "We have the emerald leader's home zone and each one that's around it. So far no one has found him."

"Do we know the info is good?"

"Do you doubt our skills Vincent?" Corina feigned to be wounded.

"Where did you get the info? From Levi. Where did she get it? From Catherine." Vincent tightened his fists. "That fucking thot can't be trusted. She's leading us into a trap."

Jade shook her head. "Vincent keep your paranoid thoughts to yourself Catherine and you have some bad blood but she's loyal to the opal. Something I can't say for you though."

"At least I make my intentions known. You can't trust a snake, and Catherine is a fucking hydra."

"Tch." Jade opened several menus. "For now we'll need to hold what we took from the emerald along with defending our own lands from them."

"What about The forces that were holding off the ruby?"

"They're taking back the zones the ruby took and some of the areas they held. Wait..." Jade waved her hands over her menus. "This can't be right."

"What is it?"

"This can't be right. The amethyst is attacking?" Jade expanded the map for everyone to see, showing the three zones along the amethyst border were blinking purple. "Why is the amethyst attacking now."

Levi shrugged. "You can't expect them to remain silent forever since we've been gaining power and land."

Lyle nods. "They may think that if they don't act now the opal will consume them whole."

Jade gowned. "I move some forces to stop them. They'll have to come from the one claiming the free zones from the ruby."

Corina stood beside Lyle who stared at the amethyst territory. "Something on your mind?"

"I don't like this. Sapphire attacked them and were pushed back. Opal attacked them and were pushed back. Why now all times?"

Vincent nods. "I don't like this. Something happened that we don't know and I don't like it. We're in the dark and we won't know until it's too late."

Levi chuckled to herself. "The die is cast, we're in the eye of the storm. Let's see what comes out of this."

Jade clapped her hands. "Alright. Forces rearranged. The amethyst will be met head on."

Everyone watched the timer count down for the battles to begin. When the timer hit zero the burst linkers started and ended in the blink of an eye, the stolen lands from the emerald were kept and more of the ruby's former land was taken. What took everyone by surprise was the three opal lands being taken by the amethyst.

Jade was the first to speak. "What, the, fuck just happened?!" No one spoke up, stunned by what they're seeing. Jade waved her hand to open a list of players. "Who was on the amethyst defense line?! What happened out there?!"

Vincent received a call from Rebecca. "Reby what's happening?"

"V! Big screens appeared in the lobby and are counting down!" A screen appeared in the center of the room with a four on it. "Stay on the line Reby."

When the number hit zero Catherine appeared on the screen. "People of the opal legion! We have a disturbance in of group. Someone who wants to destroy us from with in." Vincent clinched his fists. "A player by the name Eminence Tyrant. The one who defeated the amber and sapphire legion leaders. Well his thirst for battle has gone too far. Today we've just been hit by the amethyst legion. They struke at us because Eminence Tyrant provoked it leader. As you remember the ruby legion attacked us out of the blue as well. That's because Eminence Tyrant also provoked them by attacking their leader. We lost land to the ruby, land we still haven't recovered. If Eminence Tyrant isn't stopped I know he'll attack the topaz soon, and then we'll have three legions teaming up to destroy us."

The screens faded away and Vincent heard shouting on Rebecca's side. "Reby I'm sending you invite, get in here now!"

"Okay!" Rebecca hung up.

Vincent sighed and turned to see everyone looking at him. "What? You all believe her? Look the ruby was my bad I'll admit it, by I didn't attack the amethyst."

Jade glared at Vincent. "How can we believe you? You've been nothing but trouble since you came into my legion."

"I attacked the ruby because of Catherine handing Reby over to them. I didn't pick a fight with the amethyst."

"Can you give proof of this Vincent?" Asked Jade.

"V!" Rebecca rushed into the meeting room, shutting the door behind her. "What's going on? Everyone is about to riot out there!"

"Vincent started another war, this time with the amethyst."

"I didn't."

"I don't believe you. No one does."

"I do." Corina raised her hand. "Vincent was driven to get Rebecca back, that's why he attacked the ruby. He even admits to it, so I don't think he would after the amethyst without a good reason."

"I agree with Coco." Lyle spoke up.

Levi sat up in her seat. "I also agree with Corina. That speech Catherine just made, it was well done, clean, and rehearsed. It came just after the amethyst attacked us, like she was waiting for it to happen. Also did you notice how Catherine kept calling Vincent by his avatar's full name? She wanted everyone to know who he is with no doubt. That's how propaganda works. Besides, isn't Catherine's loyalty also, no, even more so in question then Vincent's?"

"Fine." Jade inhaled slowly. "Vincent,are you sure you haven't done anything to the amethyst?"

"I haven't thought the amethyst... Wait, mouths ago there was one. Ocean Duelist, Catherine wanted me to fight him. When I ran to fight the ruby I saw him again, he tried to stop me."

Lyle saw Corina tense up. "Vincent are you sure it was Ocean Duelist?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Ocean Duelist... Was Corina's parent. Peter from your fencing team."

"Catherine..." Muttered Rebecca. "What does she want? Who's side is she with?"

Jade saw several messages appear in front of her. "I need to go and get this mess under control. Corina, Lyle, and Levi go find Catherine and bring her to me now."

"And me?" Asked Vincent.

"You'll stay here. Indirectly or not you've caused enough trouble for the opal legion."

Vincent held up a middle finger to Jade and went to the sofa as everyone walked out. Rebecca took a seat beside him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Reby. I don't care what the masses think of me, fuck'em. What I want to know is what Catherine wants, why is she doing this. she has connects to each legion being a spy, the question was always who's side is she on. Looks like we now know, if not the amethyst then no one's."

A screen appear in front of the two, showing Jade standing on a balcony over looking the opal legion. "People were pretty upset out there. What do you think Jade will do?"

"To get a crowd this big to calm down it'll have to be something big."

Jade raised her hands for the legion below her to quiet down, if not but a little bit. "All of you have been told some very alarming news. That our hero, Eminence Tyrant, the one who defeated the amber and sapphire legions has fallen."

"What is she doing?"

"Oh no." Vincent stood up. "She's going to fucking sell me out!"

"We've lost land to the ruby, land that we still haven't gotten back, and now we have lost even more land to the amethyst. All of this because our fallen hero Eminence Tyrant decided to start a fight with our legion when we're in the middle of one with the emerald. I will lay all of your worrys to rest. Justice will be dealt out!" The legion began to cheer for their leader.

"What's going on?"

"What's is she doing?" The world shattered around Vincent and reconstructed into an old battlefield filled with broken and rusted armor and weapons under a heavily clouded sky.

Vincent was in his duel avatar form, standing before him forty feet away was Opal Commander. "Eminence Tyrant. Face your execution."

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	48. Against the opal

Chapter. 48

"Is this a fucking joke?" Shouted Vincent.

Jade pointed to Vincent. "You brought this on yourself Tyrant."

"I didn't do anything to the amethyst!"

"I don't care."

"You know we can't trust Teal. This is what she wants!"

"Then she's getting what she wants, for now."

"So you know you're being played like a God damn marionette and you're still going through with this?"

"Maybe, but look what it's done. The legion demands blood, your blood. Now fall with some dignity to keep the legion staple."

Vincent drew his sword. "I don't give a damn about your fucking legion! All you had to do was let me go and that would've been the end of it. You just had to let me walk away, but now this. I'm not going down like a bitch!" Vincent kicked off the ground and charged at Jade.

Jade clapped her hands to summon a crystal spear with a golden head that glowed white. "Judgement blow!" Jade lunged her spear and Vincent leaped to his right, firing his blaster to keep her back.

"Blaster shot!" Vincent carefully fired laser bolts at Jade who failed to deflect them with her spear as she backed away. Vincent stopped to keep his blaster from overheating.

Jade spun her spear then struke the ground, the spearhead glowed sliver and to rods extended from both sides under the spearhead. A pale cloth unrevealed from the rods and Jade held up her hand to opal legion. "Rise warriors of the opal legion! You're ruler commands you to fight!" Five members of the legion watching had pale white rings appear above them and lower over them, scanning the players to create grey copies to stand beside Jade. "Go!" Jade points to Vincent and the copies run.

"Blaster beam!" Vincent fired a beam at the first copy and watched it turn to ash. The second one reached Vincent and threw a punch, Vincent spun around the copy and sliced its head off then shot a beam at another incoming gray avatar. The last two were carrying large shields, trying to crush him from both sides. Vincent leaped back just before the shields slammed into each other. "Royal cut!" Vincent dashed to the avatars and cut them both in half.

"Blaster shot." Vincent ran to Jade and fired more laser bolts at her, this time Jade was taking the shots. This time Vincent stopped when his blaster's heat was half full.

Jade held her hand to the opal legion once more. "Opal legion, come forth! Your ruler commands it!" Jade's hand became a fist as five more legion members were scanned and copied. This time Jade copied two red avatars each armed with rifles, two greens, and a blue with a great axe. Jade pointed to Vincent, the reds opened fired as the greens rushed towards Vincent with the blue behind them.

Vincent dove to his left and ran to evade the incoming bullets as the others chased him. Vincent stopped and held his blaster to the reds. "Charge shot!" Vincent unleashed a large beam to take out one of them then he was bashed in the back by one of the greens. The blue stood over Vincent and raised its great axe to cut him down. Vincent rolled out of the axe heads way then slashed at the blue's legs, cutting them off and blue's body fell back.

"Royal cut!" Vincent stood up and sliced through the green then fired at the blue to end it. The last red kept firing at Vincent to chip at his help. Vincent ran to the red as his fired his blaster trying to hit it. The red stopped shooting to reload, Vincent ran as fast as he could and cut down the red.

Jade held her hand to the opal legion again. "Rise opal legion! Your ruler commands you to fight!"

"Do you have anything else?" Jade summoned two more green avatars with three metal avatars. _"No range? She's turtling up. I need to get closer or this'll never end."_ Vincent dashed at the copies with his blaster firing at them but the green avatar's shield held up.

Vincent jumped over the green and swung his sword at the metal avatar which moved out of the way. One of the metal avatar jumped onto Vincent's back, Vincent grabbed onto the avatars arms and hurled them to the ground.

One of the green avatars smacked its shield into Vincent's back and sent him to the ground. Two metal avatars tackled Vincent and held down his to keep him on the ground while one green avatar pushed its shield into Vincent's back.

Jade lifted her spear as the cloth rolled up and the two rods retracted. "It was a good show, it hurts me to do this-"

"Bullshit! you'll sack anyone to keep your image of knowing what you're doing!"

As the legion cheered for Jade Corina slammed her fists on the barrier. "Stop this Opal! This isn't right! You can't do this, we owe so much to him!"

Jade turned to the legion, stepping closer to Corina. "He's been nothing but trouble since he came into the legion. A rabid dog to be put down."

"You know that's not true." Levi stood beside Corina. "The amber and sapphire legions fell to him, the ruby fell to him."

"The legion is on the verge of falling apart. His sacrifice will keep it intact." Jade turned away from Corina and Levi, walking towards Vincent who struggled against the copies.

"Tyrant!" On the other side of the battle field Rebecca stood along, beating her fists on the barrier and sending requests to join the fight.

Jade brushed it aside and looked to Rebecca. "The pet wanting to defend her master." Jade pointed her spear to Rebecca. "When I'm done with your boyfriend you're next. You have two choices. Fight me and join him, or bend the knee to me and live."

"Stop this, please! I, I can't lose Tyrant!"

"Then swear loyalty to the opal, swear loyalty to me."

"Rose!" Vincent shouted. "Don't do it! Never bow to anyone!"

"Definite to the bitter end." Jade walked towards Vincent. "But it ends here."

"You don't know anything about me." Vincent engaged his incarnate system, his arm engulfed in flames. Vincent ripped his arms away from the metal avatars then pushed himself to his feet. Vincent swung his arms to take off the metal avatar's heads, followed with punching the third one through the chest.

The two green avatars rushed at Vincent with their shields up. Vincent punched through one of the shield and grabbed the avatar by the arm and swung them into the other, knocking them down. Vincent finished them by stepping on their heads.

Jade raised her spear and thrusted it into the ground, the rod extended and unfolded the pale cloth. Jade held out her hand and the entire opal legion was surrounded by pale rings. The legion was scanned and copies were conjured to the battlefield, circling Vincent.

"Well come on then!" The avatars charged at Vincent, Vincent fought off the avatars a best he could but there were too many. Each copy Vincent defeated Jade would recreate it. Vincent's punches were slowing down. One of the avatars got a hold of Vincent's arm, Vincent threw them off but another held on to him, then another until several dragged Vincent to the ground.

The avatars piled onto Vincent, keeping him down. The remaining avatars stepped aside as Jade walked closer to Vincent. "You power is strong but mine is stronger. To be a leader your will must be unrelenting."

"A strong will isn't everything. Strength is nothing without wisdom."

"What do you mean?"

Vincent grinned. "Sometimes to move forward you have to more backwards. Sometimes, You gotta take a loss."

"What do-"

Vincent swung his right arm, pointing his blaster at his head. "Charge shot!" A laser launched out from the blaster, vaporizing Vincent's head.

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	49. Shattered Opal

Chapter. 49

After the battle Vincent returned to Rebecca's side in the opal palace. "V!"

"I'm fine reby." Vincent looked to the screen to see the legion was in an even higher uproar." "We need to get out of here." Vincent waved his hand to log out, he entered the real world and was struke with an intense headache.

Rebecca reawoke to see Vincent holding his head. "V!"

"I'm not fine. Shooting myself in the head hurts." Vincent stood up, covering his face from the sudden vertigo.

"Follow me." Rebecca held onto Vincent's arm and lead him out of the library. Vincent opened his eyes when they stopped walking to see they stood in front of his bike. "I'll drive."

Vincent nodded. "Yeah, good idea." The two climbed onto the bike, Vincent held onto Rebecca as they drove off.

...

Meanwhile in a private room Lyle, Corina, and Levi returned from brain burst. Levi leaned back in her seat and clapped her hands. "Bravo Vincent. That was quick thinking."

Jade shook her head and held up her hands trying to quiet the crowd to no effect. The crowd made it clear they didn't want to hear anything she had to say. Jade walked away from the balcony and only she stepped into the private room Jade screamed at the top of her lungs. When she stopped Jade took a breath. "Vincent..." Levi snickered with her hand over her mouth. "What?"

"You got played."

"Shut the fuck up Levi!" Jade slammed her fist on the table. "Find him! Find him and crush him! Tear him apart, destroy him, no mercy!"

"Are you really that upset?"

"Yes I'm that upset! Letting him go will show instability in the legion."

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want all of you to find Vincent destroy him!"

"You can't mean that." Corina stood up. "Vincent has been of great help to us."

"And his usefulness is over. You've seen what's happening out there. If I let him go I'll look weak."

"You're willing to sacrifice Vincent just to look strong?" Asked Lyle.

"Appearances are everything Lyle. To save the opal legion Vincent need to fall, or the legion will fall apart."

"But you know all of this is because of Catherine."

"I don't want to hear it. I'll deal with her soon but right now keeping the legion together is more important. If it means throwing Vincent under a bus then so be it. I'll put down anyone to keep this legion together." Jade looked to the three. "Find him and fight him. Weaken him, I'll fight Vincent tomorrow and he won't get away again."

"No."

Jade turned to Corina. "What?"

"I'm not fighting Vincent. He's our friend and I don't believe-"

"I don't care what you believe. I'm the leader of this legion and you will all obey!" Jade took a step closer to Corina. "Or do I need to judgement blow another traitor?" Lyle stood in Jade's way. "Stand down Lyle."

"Or what you'll take him out too?" Asked Levi.

"Yes." Jade spun to Levi. "Lyle, you, anyone who questions me."

"Didn't know we signed on for a dictatorship."

Jade received a message and her face darkened. "Get out, all of you." Levi shrugged then stood up to leave. Lyle placed his hands on Corina's shoulders and led her out.

Outside the library Corina was stomping the ground. "What is with Jade? It's like she never cared about us!"

"Because she doesn't Coco." Lyle rested his hand on Corina to calm her down. "She sees us as tools for her legion, nothing more."

"Still... After all we've done. Willing to hurt anyone to rule. What do we do now?"

"I think we should check on Vincent. See what he thinks, maybe once everyone has had a day to calm down will be able to talk this through."

Levi chuckled. "You don't know people Lyle."

Lyle messaged Vincent then waited a minute for the reply. "He sent me the address. You need a lift Levi?"

"Nope, I drove here so I'll just follow you." Levi walked away to find her car. Lyle and Corina did the same to find Lyle's truck.

...

The three arrived outside of Vincent's house, Lyle and Levi parking in front of it. "Nice place." Said Corina as she climbed out of the truck. The three walked up to the fornt door, Lyle knocking on it. They waited a few seconds until the down open to reveal Rebecca.

"Hey everyone. Vincent's this way." Rebecca lead them inside to the den to Vincent on a sofa, rubbing his head with a glass of water in hand.

"Hello Vincent." Lyle was the first to greet him. Lyle to a seat in an arm chair across the room.

"Hey all. How's things?"

"Jade's losing her mind after you're fight."

"Whatever. So what brings you all here?"

"We came to see you." Corina examining a fireplace.

"I'll be fine, just a headache." Vincent signed. "Jade wants you all to kill me, right?"

Levi took a seat on the sofa. "Yeah but I'm no one's lapdog. Tell us Vincent, did you really have nothing to do with the amethyst?"

"The ruby was my fault I won't deny it, but I didn't do anything to the amethyst. I fought the ruby to get Reby back, the amethyst doesn't have anything I want."

"Alright." Levi leaned back with her hands behind her head. "So what's our next move? Anyone?"

Lyle took is thinking pose. "I say we wait then speak to Jade tomorrow, give her and the legion time to cool off."

"I don't think so Lyle. Outrage isn't something that just fades away."

Everyone but Rebecca had received a massage from brain burst, telling them they were no longer members of the opal legion. "What the hell?" Vincent refreshed his email to find the message was still there.

"Did Jade kick us out?" Asked Corina.

"Maybe..." Levi pulled up the brain burst territory map, showing them that the opal legion was no more. The legion territory was now open land.

"The hell just happened?!" Corina jumped to her feet. "Did Jade disband the legion?"

"Doubtful. Someone took her down."

Vincent tightened his grip on his glass. "Catherine." He said through clinched teeth.

Rebecca turned to Vincent. "How could Catherine have done this?"

"I don't know but, I know it's her. She's always-" The world broke apart around Vincent, putting him into another fight.

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	50. Outrage

Chapter. 50

Vincent returned to the accelerated world to find the land was turned to ash. Before him was a metal avatar which rushed at him. Vincent side stepped the avatar's punch then backed away. "The hell you want?"

"Kill him! Kill the bastard! Get the traitor!" Vincent saw most of the members of the opal legion watching him.

"What are you all... Oh for the love of God, I didn't have anything to do with the opal falling!" Vincent's words were drowned out by the crowd. The metal avatar tackled Vincent to the ground, they raised their fist to punch Vincent in the face but missed when Vincent moved his head out of the way then shoved the metal avatar off of him. "Blaster scatter!" Vincent fired his blaster into the avatar's chest to win the fight.

The world returned to normal for a second before it broke apart again, turning into one made of gears. Vincent held out his hand to the green avatar before him. "I had nothing to do with the legion falling!"

"Liar!" The avatar shouted. The crowd also shouted for Vincent to die. Vincent dove out of the way as the green avatar charged at him with a tower shield, Vincent rolled to his feet and aimed his blaster at the avatar's back. "Blaster beam." Vincent fired a laser at the avatar, taking a quarter of their health before they blocked with their shield.

Vincent leaped back as he drew his sword. "Royal cut!" As the avatar charged at him with their shield Vincent lunged his sword through the shield and into the avatar's head. "I didn't do anything to you're legion." The world was almost repaired when to shattered again, this time turning into a city under a monsoon. As so as the stage finished a blue avatar with a great hammer dashed towards Vincent. "Would any of you just listen to me?" Vincent drew his sword to block the hammer. The crowd continued to cheer for Vincent's death.

The blue avatar moved a hand onto the back of the hammerhead to put more force to push Vincent down. Vincent pushed his blade left to guide the hammer to the ground, with the weapon out of the way Vincent backhanded the avatar in the face then swung his sword to slice off the top half of the avatar's head.

The world was halfway repaired when Vincent was pulled into another fight, this time a rotting forest. A red avatar armed with duel handguns, the avatar opened fire while Vincent hid behind a tree. "Can we just talk? I didn't do anything!" Again his voice was silenced by the crowds as well as the red avatar's gunfire.

When the red stopped to reload Vincent jumped out from cover and ran towards the avatar, who shot at Vincent with one of their guns. Vincent took a few bullets as he dove into the dirt. Vincent held up his right arm. "Charge shot!" Vincent unleashed a large beam at the red, burning away the right half of its body. Vincent pushed himself up and continued to run. The avatar shot Vincent in the chest as he plunged his sword into the avatar's head.

The world fully returned to normal before it broke apart again. Vincent held his chest, being exposed to the real world long enough for the phantom pain to take effect. A blue avatar with a spear rushed to stab Vincent. Vincent held up his right arm. "Cleanse!" A massive beam crashed into the avatar, burning their body and Vincent stopped when only a sliver of health left. "Can you all just stop and talk for once?" Vincent Stood up. The crowds were shouting for Vincent to fight them. Vincent turned to face them. "What is with all of you? I didn't do anything to the opal legion so stop attacking me!" Vincent's pleads only made the crowd even louder, causing him to sigh. "Fine, they'll have to stop eventually." Vincent aimed his blaster at the fallen foe and finished them.

The next battle started almost immediately after Vincent returned to the real world, allowing the phantom pain to begin again. The next opponent was a yellow avatar who was typing on a keyboard attached to their arm. "Just listen to me-" Vincent's blaster overheated, releasing fire over Vincent's right arm, causing minor burns to his armor and damaging his health. "You fucking-" Vincent drew his sword and swung it hard launching a force to push the avatar into a tree. staggering it long enough for Vincent to stab it in the head.

The world was restored and broke down again, turning into an open plain in the sky. This time Vincent felt the burns on his arm along with the gunshots to his chest. "Are you even going to listen to me?" Vincent looked up to see a metal avatar rush towards him and punch Vincent in the face, throwing him back. Vincent stood up but the metal avatar grabbed Vincent and hurled him down, followed by a kick to the ribs. Vincent swung his right arm to trip the metal avatar but winced from the phantom burns. When the avatar fell Vincent aimed his blaster. "Cleanse!" A large beam turned the avatar to dust.

Once more the world was returned then turned into land of ice. Again Vincent was hit with the collective phantom pain. "I'm done talking." Vincent drew his sword and rushed to meet his foe. A blue avatar armed with a great sword. Holding his sword with both hands Vincent deflected the avatar's great sword then swung again, cutting the weapon in half. The blue staggered in shock as Vincent swung his own sword again to cut the avatar's head off.

The cycle repeated and Vincent's pain renewed, the battlefield was now a graveyard with a red avatar armed with a grenade launcher who used it right away. Vincent jumped to dodge but the blast till caught him and Vincent was thrown through a grave stone, hurting his left shoulder and upper arm. "Fuck no! Not again!" Vincent held out his right arm. "Cleanse!" Vincent fired a massive beam, leaving the avatar lying in the grave soil burned. Vincent walked over to the avatar as he drew his blade and turned to the crowd. "Is this what you fuckers want?! Who's next to waste my attention!" The crowd was riled up, everyone of them wanting to fight for their fallen legion.

"V!" Across from the crowd was Vincent's friends watching. Rebecca trying to push through the barrier keeping her out.

"What is wrong with people?" Asked Lyle. They don't know if it really was Vincent who brought down the opal but they all want him dead."

Levi shook her head. "It's what I've been telling you. The only thing the masses love more then an idol, is a fallen idol. They love nothing more then to build up a person as a hero is to rip them apart and say they never liked them. Disgusting." Levi's word dripped with distaste.

"I just hope Vincent can keep using the incarnate system with a positive mind." Commented Corina.

The next fight started with the world becoming an open field under the setting sun. Vincent's body instinctively tensed up from the pain, causing it to hurt more. Another blue avatar with a sword rushed towards Vincent. The avatar raised their sword to split Vincent in half, Vincent held up his left hand to catch the sword, stopping its swing. The avatar tried to pulled the sword back but Vincent didn't let go. Blood flowed from Vincent's hand and he used his right hand to grab a hold of the avatar's neck strangling them. Vincent was crushing the avatar's neck armor, the avatar was having trouble breathing and let go of their sword to open Vincent's grip on their windpipe. Vincent took the sword and shoved it into the avatar's head. Vincent threw the body down and turned to the crowd. "NEXT!"

The world cycled again to become on reflective of the heian period of japan, Vincent's body gushed with pain only to strengthen his anger. A green avatar stood in front of Vincent with a small shield on both of their arms. Vincent rushed the avatar with his sword ready to strike. The avatar held up one of their arms, a barrier formed in front of the avatar, blocking Vincent's blade.

Vincent dropped his sword as flames dances along his hands. "Oh no!" Rebecca pounded her fists on the wall keeping her out. "V! Don't!"

Vincent punched the barrier and shattered it. The avatar stumbled back and raised their other arm to create another one just for Vincent to destroy it with another punch. The avatar backed away then held up both of their arms. Vincent punched the barrier to create several cracks in it the punched it again shattering the barrier and damaging one of the avatar's shields. Vincent didn't let up and threw one more punch, putting his fist through their head.

"Vincent!" Shouted Rebecca. "Stop!"

"This is back he's falling back into the negative side." Corina grabbed Rebecca's arm. "When we get back you need to rip the linker of Vincent. He's going to destroy himself!" Rebecca nods. When they returned to the real world Rebecca jumped at Vincent's neck but was pulled back into the accelerated world.

In a world of fire Vincent's body stopped reacting from the pain, all he could think about was the purple avatar before him that need to be destroyed. Before the avatar moved Vincent held out his right arm. "Cleanse!" The avatar dove out of the laser but their legs was caught in the blast, burning them off. The avatar screamed as Vincent walked towards them. The avatar drew a pistol but Vincent kept his arm up. "Cleanse!" Another laser burned away the avatar's arm. The avatar was desperately trying to crawl away but Vincent when stood over the avatar he grabbed them by the neck and slammed them into ground, over and over, slowly draining away the avatar's health while inducing pain. "This what you wanted?" Vincent raised the avatar's body the throw them back into the ground. "This what you thought was going to happen?" Vincent raised them up again t drop them again. "What did you learn? What the fuck did you learn?!" Vincent stepped on the avatar's head and crushed it underfoot.

Returning to the real world Rebecca grabbed onto Vincent's linker and pulled it off. "V!" Vincent slid off the sofa holding is body. "V!"

Levi placed her hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "It's the phantom pain. Vincent's gonna need to get some asprin or something cause when it passes he'll have one hell of a headache.

"Okay. Come on V!" Rebecca gentle took Vincent's left arm over her shoulders.

"Reby...?"

"I'm here V."

"What happened?"

"You're anger took over. Just rest, you need medicine."

Once the two were gone Lyle rubbed his face. "We need to do something, and after thinking about it. I think Vincent is right and that Catherine hand a bigger hand in this then we think."

"We'll find out at school later." Said Levi.

"Uh." Corina spoke up. "In that last fight, did either of you see half of Vincent's avatar name glitch?"

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	51. A voice

Chapter. 51

Vincent stood up and looked around to see he was in a open battle field, in front of him was opal commander who raised her spear to summon avatars from the ground. Fire erupted over Vincent's arms as his body moved on it's own. Vincent destroyed each avatar trying to attack him, when they tried to attack all at once Vincent raised his fist and slammed them into the ground, fire waved off his body and incarcerated every avatar close to him, making the those stagger back.

Vincent grabbed onto a green avatar and used them as a shield to push through the sea of avatars. Once Vincent was out he threw the avatar at the horde following him and dash towards Opal Commander. Opal ran to meet Vincent with the head of her spear shining with a pale light. Vincent grabbed onto the spear below the tip and broke it off. Vincent then plunged the spear head into Opal's neck. Opal fell to the ground the ground as the other avatars turned to dust.

Vincent looked over his shoulder to see his friends walking to greet him. When they were closer Vincent drew his sword and sliced Lyle in half, followed with a laser bolt to his head. Vincent leaped to Corina and slashed her head off then fired a large beam at Levi, burning away her upper body. Rebecca stepped back as Vincent got closer, his body was shaking until Vincent raised his sword and stabbed Rebecca through the chest.

Vincent awoke with a shock, breathing hard Vincent checked his clock to see it was pasted five in the morning. Vincent sat up and rubbed his eyes. "The hell was that?" Vincent opened his linker to check his brain burst friend list to see it wasn't there. "Right. New linker." Vincent shook his head and stood up. "Can't sleep anymore, might as well get ready for the day."

...

Vincent drove his motorcycle to Rebecca's house, as he climbed off and messaged Rebecca to let her know he was there. The door unlocked to let Vincent inside, he went up the stairs and knocked on Rebecca's to door to find it was open. Vincent stepped inside to see Rebecca brushing her hair. "Hey Reby."

"Hey V. You're early."

"Just got up early. You're missing a spot there, if you would." Reby handed Vincent her brush as he straightened Rebecca's hair he started to smell pine trees. "You're hair smells nice."

"Please don't smell my hair V."

Vincent took a hand full of hair and took a long sniff. "Oh, that's good."

"Stop it." Rebecca laughed and pulled her hair away.

"You laughed so it was worth it." Vincent went back to brushing Rebecca's hair.

"So how's the new linker?"

"It's fine."

"I just hope it'll keep you safe from the opal legion."

"They'll find something else to take up their time when their area is taken up by another legion."

"But what are we going to do?"

"We'll see, the opal is gone, we're fight is over. For now let's just relax and enjoy the peace for once." Vincent finished with Rebecca's hair and put down the brush. "Done. Anything else?"

"Can I drive?"

"Sure."

"Yes!" Rebecca ran down the stairs with Vincent right behind her.

...

The two arrived at school, Rebecca pulled up to a parking space and spotted Levi getting out of her car. "Levi!" Rebecca climbed off the bike and ran to greet her. "Morning Levi!"

"Hey Levi."

"Hello Rebecca, Vincent." Levi greeted the two as she took out a large bag from her car.

"What's that?"

"Nothing important. Come on." Levi led the way until they were called out.

"Hey!" Corina shouted as she and Lyle ran to their friends. "How is everyone?!"

"We're good Corina, you?" Asked Rebecca.

"Good, but what about Vincent?"

"I'm fine. Just another day to live through, time to get started. Besides, I can use a break from fighting."

"Rest is important." Commented Lyle.

Corina noticed the bag Levi carried. "What's that?"

"Nothing important."

"Can I see it?"

"No."

"But it's not important."

"And I still don't want you to see it so back off please." Corina shrugged and stepped away from Levi.

Standing by the schools main doors Catherine typed emails as she waited. She checked the player list on brain burst to see Vincent wasn't on. Catherine looked up to see Vincent walk inside. "Morning Vinny-" Catherine stopped when she saw Rebecca on his arm and his friend around him. As they walked past her Catherine tightened her fist and made a call.

The group split up to head for their classes. Vincent sat at his desk thinking about his dream until he felt a hand run along his arm. "Hey Vinny." Vincent didn't react. "How was you're weekend?" Vincent remained quiet. "Vinny you know I hate being ignored." Catherine pulled away. "I saw you with Rebecca. I told you she's bad for you, she what's to change you into what you're not. I'd never do that, I accept who you are." Vincent still didn't speak to her. "Fine." Catherine when to seat next to Vincent. "If you want to waste your time on Rebecca then me that okay. She seems like an easy to hook kind of girl."

 _"Put her in her place."_ Vincent heard a voice and his body moved on it's own.

"How about you suck the fuck up you fucking thot. After what you did you think I'll have a slight interest in trash like you? Rebecca isn't 'easy' but you're no effort."

 _"Scare her."_

Vincent leaned closer to Catherine. "Stay the fuck away from me, Rebecca, and my friends or I'll put you in the fucking ground." Vincent went back to his seat. His head shook slightly as if he was in a daze, he glanced to Catherine who opened her email. Vincent rested his head in his hand, partially remembering what he just did.

The lunch bell rang and the class rose to leave, Catherine being one of the first. Vincent rubbed the side of his face. "Tired?" Asked Lyle standing beside him.

"A little."

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Was it a bad dream?"

 _"Why do you care?"_

Vincent pressed hands on his desk and stood up. "You know wh-" Vincent bit back his response. "I'll tell you about it over lunch."

"Good idea. Let's get the others." As Lyle walked away Everything around Vincent become a blur for a second, he rubbed his eyes and followed his friend.

...

In another classroom Rebecca had felt a sense of dread wash over her. "Reby?" Corina waved her hand in her face.

"Oh Coco, sorry."

"You good? You spaced out."

"I just had a bad feeling that."

"If you have a bad feeling to might be something coming." Corina pulled Rebecca to her feet. "Come on, let's go meet up with the others."

Corina opened the door and froze. "Hello Coco."

"Peter?" Corina backed away from the door.

"Been a while, why don't you come to see my fencing matches anymore?" Peter stepped into the classroom, cornering Corina.

"I don't want anything to do with you!"

"That's harsh. I am your parent after all, we need to stick together."

Corina backed up against the window, Rebecca jumped in front of Peter. "Leave her alone, she doesn't want to see you!"

"Let them talk." Behind Peter Catherine stepped inside. "You and I need to have a little talk." Rebecca held her ground as Catherine drew closer. "Since you're a nice girl I'll give you a warning at the start. You're changing Vincent and it needs to stop being around him, before you can along Vincent was angry and jaded. Always looking for a fight, I need you to move away from Vincent so I can turn him back to who he is." Catherine stood beside Peter, cornering Rebecca and Corina. "I can ruin your life, so be good and stay away from Vincent."

"Corina!" Lyle shouted as he and Vincent rushed into the room.

Peter smiled and turned to Lyle. "Hello Lyle. How's my grandson?"

"Get out." Lyle towered over Peter with tightened fists.

"Can I not see my kids?" Peter turned back to Corina. "See you around Corina." Peter stepped around Lyle and left.

"Hello-" A fist crashed into the wall beside Catherine. "Hello Vinny."

"The fuck did I tell you bitch!?"

"I'm just looking out for you Vinny."

 _"Get physical."_

Vincent grabbed on to Catherine's shirt. "I'm so sick of you and your fucking games. The opal is gone because of you so go find someone else to suck up too, metaphorically and physically that's all your good at you fucking thot." Vincent shoved Catherine into the wall. "Come on." Vincent took Rebecca's hand and lead her out. Lyle and Corina followed them.

Catherine rubbed the back of her head. "Walk away Vincent! That's all you can do! Rebecca made you a coward!"

 _"Stop!"_ Vincent stopped and turned back to Catherine. _"Bury her."_ Vincent took off his linker, put on his old one and challenged Catherine.

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	52. Resistance

Chapter. 52

Catherine and Vincent were dropped int the middle of a city under a heavy rain storm, the water was high enough to reach their knees. **_"Kill her!"_** As soon as the fight began Vincent charged at Catherine, fast then she could react. Vincent grabbed into Catherine's face and pressed her head into the water. Catherine drew a dagger and thrist it into Vincent's arm.

Vincent caught her arm and twisted it to point the dagger at Catherine's face. Catherine struck Vincent in the chest with her knees then pushed him off and jumped to her feet as she threw her dagger. Vincent drew his sword and deflected the dagger. **_"Break her."_** Vincent stood up and ran at Catherine with both hands on his sword. Catherine drew another dagger to block but it was knocked out of her hands by Vincent as he followed with a slash across Catherine's chest then and spin kick to knock her down.

Catherine fell into the water and rolled backwards to her feet as she drew two more daggers. **_"Cut her legs!"_** Vincent was barely aware of what was happening, he swung his sword but Catherine jumped over the blade and Vincent followed with an uppercut to Catherine's face, cracking her helmet and knocking her back. ** _"Don't let her up!"_** Vincent rushed at Catherine and fired laser bolts at her.

Catherine rolled to her feet and lunged at Vincent. **_"Put her down!"_** Vincent sidestepped Catherine and grabbed her by the arm, he swung Catherine around then slammed her into the ground. Still holding on to her Vincent ran his blade into Catherine's arm, then shot her in the back. Catherine threw her dagger and Vincent moved out of its path. Catherine took the opening to roll away from Vincent and stand up, pulling the sword out of her arm and threw it back at Vincent.

Vincent caught the blade and stepped back to shoot at her. Catherine dodged some of the bolts but each hit was slowing her down until one hit her in the wound on her chest to stagger her. **_"Cleave her!"_** Vincent dashed towards Catherine with his sword raised.

Catherine crossed her daggers to catch Vincent's sword but still had to step back from the force of Vincent's attack. "There it is, that rage, that power. This is what I've been trying to foster in you, you're real power. This is all I wanted!"

 _"That's exactly what Catherine wants. By staying angry at Catherine you're letting her effect you, you're letting her control you, giving her power over you. Power she doesn't deserve."_ Vincent leaped back and the haze began to clear. Remembering Lyle's word Vincent relaxed and threw his sword away.

 ** _"Pick it up."_** Vincent's hand twitched but he refused to look at it.

"What are you doing?" Catherine watched Vincent as she took a couple steps closer. "A trap, a lure to let my guard down?"

"No. I'm done fighting you."

Catherine laughed. "Are you for real? Come on, let me see your anger again."

 ** _"Pick it up."_** Vincent tightened his fist.

"What is this?" Catherine lowered her daggers. "Pick up that sword and fight me."

"No. Because that's what you want and I'm done giving you what you want."

 ** _"PICK IT UP NOW!"_** Vincent's hand tightened enough that his finger tips scraped along his palms.

"Pick that sword and fight me, here." Catherine put away her daggers. "I'll give you one free hit, shot me."

"No."

"Shot me, now."

"No."

"Fucking shot me Vincent!"

 ** _"SHOT HER!"_**

Vincent ripped off his blaster and tossed it aside. "No."

Catherine rush to Vincent, drawing a dagger to stabbed him in the chest. "Take this blade and stab me, show me that anger."

"No."

Catherine twisted the blade. "I'm not letting you bitch out on me now Vinny. You're a monster, you know it, I know it, everyone needs to see it. Now take this dagger and stab me with it."

 _ **"Take that blade and stab her!"**_

"No."

Catherine screamed and threw Vincent into the water then looked to Rebecca. "You did this to him! You ruined my Vinny you fucking whore!"

Levi laughed lightly. "From where I'm standing I'd say he was never yours to begin with."

"I'll fucking kill you both!" Catherine threw her dagger at Levi, it was stopped by the barrier. Vincent slow pushed himself up. "Get the fuck down!" Catherine kick Vincent in the chest to keep him down then turn to his friends. "Are you proud of yourself! Was so full of anger and power and you all had to take that way from him, now look at Vinny. Weak, tied down, you all ruined him! I wanted a monster and you took that away from me!"

"Vincent isn't yours to do as you please!" Shouted Corina.

"He's my child! So I CAN do as I please! You have no room to talk! Did you not mold Lyle when you took him in? Did Vincent not mold Rebecca?"

"But they weren't trying to turn them into monsters." Said Levi.

"If only none of you had never stepped into his life." Catherine stood over Vincent as he struggled to stand up. "Come on Vinny, get up! Get up and hit me!" Vincent rose to his feet and stepped away from Catherine. "Come on, and fight me!"

 _ **"Fight and end her!"**_ Vincent still didn't move.

"You say great but you don't want it bad enough. you're like all the other and just kind of want it. You don't want it as bad as you want to be accepted or to be cool to people who don't matter. Almost everyone don't want greatness as bad as they want to sleep!" Catherine waved her hand to the others. "You don't need them to be strong you just need yourself." Catherine threw a dagger to Vincent's feet. "What do you need to motivate you? Are you not enough? Is your potential not enough? Is your greatness not enough? What is it? What do you need to be the man I know you are?"

 _ **"Pick that blade and end her!"**_

Vincent took a deep breath and relaxed his hands. Catherine ran to Vincent and punched him in the chest, causing him to fall into the water. "Right now you're being so stupid! You've been through so much hell, you're gonna quit now! You should've quit months ago! You don't get to quit now!"

Vincent rose up and Catherine punched him in the chest again, putting him back in the water. "Get up!"

 ** _"GET UP!"_**

Vincent stood up again and Catherine punched him. "Get up!"

 _ **"GET UP!"**_

Vincent stood up and Catherine held out a dagger. "Now. Fight. Me!"

 _ **"Take it and kill her!"**_

"No!"

Catherine stabbed Vincent through the chest and lowered him down. "Shhh... It's fine Vinny, mama will fix you right up."

The battle was over and everyone returned to the real world. Vincent held his chest as Rebecca held him up. Everyone looked to Catherine who rubbed her arm then waved her hand. The world broke apart and turned into an open wasteland.

Rebecca looked around to see she was on the battlefield she heard footsteps and saw Catherine walking towards her. "I tried to be nice but no one will listen. I'm gonna have to fix this, fix everything." Catherine drew two daggers. "Now be a good girl and your torment won't be... that bad."

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	53. Source of power

Chapter. 53

Catherine rushed to Rebecca who dove out of the way. Rebecca rolled to her feet then drew her handgun, firing off a few rounds but each one was deflected by Catherine. "That all? Why Vinny picked you I'll never know."

"Shut up! you don't know anything about V!"

"I know he picked you to be his pawn." Catherine charged Rebecca and swung her daggers. Rebecca ducked under the blades but Catherine followed with a knee to Rebecca's face, knocking her back. "Don't feel bad, I picked Vinny to be a pawn too. Maybe someday you can make one for yourself." Catherine threw a dagger, Rebecca dodged but the blade cut along her torso. "It' just how the game is played. I game Vinny brain burst to do something for me and he wants revenge. I'm saving you here by getting you out. Soon Vinny would have used you for some plot, then you'll seek revenge, creating your own pawn. Then after you used them they'll come for you're head, creating a pawn of their own. It's the cycle of this game."

"That's not true. Prism shift, red!" Rebecca changed into red form and fired missiles as her minigun and laser cannon warmed up.

"Vanish!" Catherine turned invisible, Rebecca fired her weapons in all directions until her special gauge ran out, turning back into her white form. Catherine revealed herself and punched Rebecca in the face. "Need proof? Look at Corina and Lyle. Corina made Lyle to protect herself from Peter. So Lyle will get tired of being the 'big hero' and strike her down to free himself, maybe creating his own pawn to do it."

"That's a lie!" Shouted Corina.

"Oh don't act like that. You gave brain burst to Lyle to protect yourself. That's what everyone does in this game of power. You create your own down fall to kill your creator. A cycle that'll never end!" Catherine kicked Rebecca in the ribs.

"Stop this!" Vincent shouted with his hands on the barrier. "You have a problem with me then you take it up with me!" Vincent punched the barrier. "Leave Rebecca out of this!"

Catherine looked to Vincent over her shoulder. "So now you want to fight? A little late for that Vinny. This is what I was warning you about, caring for others makes you weak, it binds you. To be strong you have to have no attachments, nothing to weight you down." Catherine threw a dagger at Rebecca, graving her left arm. "But don't worry Vinny, mama will take away any distraction."

"No!" Vincent punched the barrier. "Rebecca has nothing to do with you!"

"She has everything to do with me! She's making you weak, you care more about what she thinks then getting stronger!"

Levi shakes her head. "Your logic is flowed, how do you expect Vincent to get stronger if he has nothing to use that strength for? Why get stronger if you have nothing to protect?"

Catherine laughed and turned to Levi. "You of anyone here should understand. Do you need a reason to be strong? Do you really need something to protect to have strength? No. Getting stronger is reason enough to get stronger. Fight for the sake of fighting. That is what it means to be in this world. We kill for points to level up to get better at killing, when you have attachments you have weaknesses. Things that can be used against you." Catherine holds out her arms. "I have no attachments, nothing to keep me from gaining power. That's what I want for you Vinny, and to have that." Catherine turned back to Rebecca. "I need to clear your mind by getting rid of this little nothing."

Corina slammed her hands on the barrier. "Do you really think Vincent will thank you for hurting Rebecca?! He'll just hate you!"

"And? It means Vinny will have a drive to get stronger. So what if he hates me, as long as he gets more powerful that's all that matters!"

Everyone looked to Vincent who kept punching the barrier, Lyle noticed that small cracks were forming in the barrier but lingered for only a split second.

"Attachments, bonds, acceptance... Love." Catherine spoke the last word with disgust. "None of this matters, what matters is power. How you get it also doesn't matter. That's why Lyle and Corina are weak, I refuse to let this parasite do the same to my Vinny." Catherine drew two daggers and raised them to impale Rebecca.

Rebecca's body shifted to green, blocking Catherine's daggers with one shield then struck her in the head with the other. Everyone watching was shocked. "She got a hit!" Cheered Corina. Vincent stopped punching the barrier and calmed down.

Catherine reversed her grip and lunged at Rebecca to punch. Rebecca's body shifted to blue, her fist met Catherine's, breaking her arm and sending Catherine down. Rebecca picked up Catherine and hurled her into a pile of rubble. Catherine crawled out of the rubble and shook her head. "Alright, you got some skill, but I'm still going to kill you." Catherine drew another dagger and rushed at Rebecca.

"Prism shift purple!" Rebecca's body grew thinner turned a bright purple, her hands retraced into her arms, replaced with with a pair of three feet long blades with a slit running down the middle and a small barrel between the base of the blades.

"Wow." Corina was starstruck by Rebecca's new form.

Levi squinted. "Duel blades? But purple are meant to be long range as well as close."

Catherine swung her blades down and Rebecca caught the daggers between her own and snapped the daggers in half. Catherine staggered back and Rebecca stabbed Catherine with one of her blade and hurled her away, as Catherine stood up Rebecca held up her arms and fired bullets from the barrels between her blades.

Catherine took several bullets before she took cover behind some fallen concrete. Rebecca kept firing, chipping away at the concrete. Lyle crossed his arms. "Bullet based weapons have a capacity limit. How does she reload?" He turned to Vincent who watched with a massive grin.

Rebecca's ran out of bullets, her blades made loud clicking sounds. "Out of ammo?" Catherine rolled out of her cover and rushed at Rebecca. Rebecca kept her arms up and shot her blades at Catherine. One struke into Catherine's upper thigh and the other into the right side of her torso. Catherine stopped and dropped to one knee, she grabbed onto the blade in her thigh and tired to pull it out but cut deep into her fingers. "Okay that was good." Catherine stood up and pushed the blade out of her thigh. "But now what do you have with no blades?" Rebecca swung her arms down, a new pair of blades replaced her lost ones. "Fuck." Rebecca fired bullets at Catherine. "Vanish!" Catherine turned invisible, Rebecca kept firing but was no longer hurting Catherine. "Now what brat? Can't hit what you can't see!"

"Prism shift yellow." Rebecca's body changed to yellow and held up her right hand, now a large rose. "Petal storm!" The rose broke into a wave of petals the swarmed around Rebecca, leaving behind a thick metal spike. She felt some of the petals strike something but when she looked she saw the petals hanging in the air. "Got you." Rebecca charged with her metal spike and impaled the petals, revealing Catherine. Rebecca grabbed Catherine's arm and stabbed her in the chest four more times with the spike then punched her in the jaw.

Catherine spun away and staggered back a few steps, blood flowing from her wounds. "What the hell just happened?" Catherine felt dizzy from the blood loss, she drew a dagger and shook her head to clear her sight.

Rebecca body turned purple, Catherine swung her dagger but Rebecca swatted it away with one of her blades then stabbed her in the chest with the other, forcing her to the ground then finished the fight by running her other second blade through Catherine's head.

Everyone returned to the real world, Rebecca fell to the floor with minor pains while Catherine screamed while holding her face. Vincent and Levi kneeled down to help Rebecca to her feet.

Catherine lowered her hands and glared at Rebecca with hate filled eyes. "You fucking-" Catherine took a step and Lyle stood in her way, she sidestepped him but then Corina was in her way. "What does she have that I don't?"

"Redeeming qualities." Commented Rebecca.

"The fuck you say to me you little shit!"

"You heard me thot. Maybe someday you can buy yourself a better personalty."

"You-" Lyle and Corina stood in Catherine's way. Catherine tightened her fists. "If not for that fucking, Chrome-" Catherine turned and walked away, holding the side of her head.

"That was incredible Reby!" Corina turned to Rebecca while clapping. "That purple form was so pretty!"

"Please don't say that."

"What was that?" Asked Levi. "I've never seen that from you. Vincent rubbing off on you now?"

"I just... I couldn't let her say all those things about everyone."

Levi gentle rubbed Rebecca's back. "Now we know you have that fire in you, bring it to all your fights and you can't lose."

"Thank you Levi."

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	54. Levi's interest

Chapter. 54

As lunch was ending everyone returned to their classrooms. Vincent took his seat and glanced to Catherine who was looking out the window. _**"Slap her!"**_ Vincent pressed his hands on his desk, he stopped himself from putting in any force to stand up and took a deep breath. _**"Get up!"**_

 _"Shut up."_ Vincent rubbed the side of his head. _"Where are these thoughts coming from."_ The teacher walked in and class started. Vincent could barely hear the teacher and felt light headed.

 _ **"He's going too slow."**_ Vincent rubbed the side of his face. **_"Does he think we're stupid? I could do better."_** Vincent's stomach started to turn. _**"Hurry up fucker, I got people to kill!"**_ Vincent silently took a breath to calm down. **_"Catherine is looking at me, that fucking thot needs to pay. They'll all pay!"_**

 _"Shut the fuck up!"_ Vincent tapped his fist on the side of his head then glanced to his clock. _"Today can't be over fast enough."_

...

School was over for the day and Vincent and Lyle rushed out of the classroom, the two arrived outside Rebecca and Corina's when the other students filed out the two found their girlfriends waiting for them.

"Are you alright?" Asked Lyle.

"I'm fine. Peter hasn't come by."

"For now wait for us to get you."

"Okay."

"Are you okay?" Rebecca asked Vincent.

"I'll be fine when that fucking thot is out of our lives. We should see what Levi thinks, she's been good at predicting Catherine's moves."

"Let's see if Levi is in any clubs." Rebecca waved her hand to access the school network.

"Think we can find her?" Asked Corina.

Vincent crossed his arms. "How many people do you know named Lavender?"

Rebecca closed her access. "You're not gonna believe this. she's in a gaming history club."

"A what now?" Asked Vincent.

"I guess it's about studying the history of gaming. That sounds fun."

"Think you'll mind us coming to see her." Asked Rebecca.

"Why not? We're all friends!"

Walking down the hall the group found the club room door, Corina knocked. The door opened and male student opened up. "Hello?"

"Hi, is Levi here?"

The student threw open the door to let them in. "Levi! Some people are here for you!"

Levi jumped up from a table and run to them. "What, why, how, why are you all here?"

"We wanted to see how you were doing." Said Corina. "You spent a lot of time with us but we barely know what you like to do."

"Well..." Levi threw up her arms. "This is it." The burst linkers looked around, the walls were covered with old gaming tournament posters, a long table by the window held several consoles, each at least a decade old. In the center of the room was a large table with a console completely taken apart with the other members of the club gathered around the console as they studied the parts.

Levi sighed. "Go ahead laugh. I'm interested in something nerdy..."

"I know that tournament." Vincent pointed to a fighting game poster. "I wanted that live, it got me and sis into fighting games."

"I have that game at home." Answered Lyle. "I used to play it a lot before the system broke."

"What else did you play?"

Rebecca spotted a helmet on top of a stand, Rebecca picked up the helmet and looked inside. "This is cool?"

One of the club member stood beside Rebecca. "That's a nerve gear. A high-density microwave transceiver capable of accessing the user's brain, allowing it to send fake signals to the user."

"Like our linkers?"

"This was the baseline for them. The transceivers not only capable of inducing fake sensory signals but can also block every movement command from the brain to the body, preventing the player from moving their body while in what was called a "Full Dive" to avoid injuries. The transceivers are also capable of blocking sensory information from the body to the brain, thus, while using it, the player is completely insensate to the real world."

"That sounds a little... not safe." Rebecca looked back at the helmet. "Wasn't this used in a death game years ago?"

Corina ruffed Levi's hair. "See? No one thinks you're weird."

"Don't touch my hair."

"Okay." Corina pulled her hand back. "If you'd told us about this we could've brought some stuff for your club."

"You'd do that?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know. Maybe you'd lose respect for me?"

Corina ruffled Levi's hair again. "Well we didn't, have more faith in your friends."

"Remove your hand."

"Make me."

Levi glared at Corina while fighting back a smile. "Fine. You want to be in here then you'll have to take part in the activates."

"Okay! So, what's the club about?"

"Gaming history. We talk about where gaming started, how it changed over the years, even where genres came from."

"Like what?"

"Did you know that the fighting game genre came from a glitch at let you string together combos if you were fast enough? The creators left it in thinking the window was too small but look what happened, it's the core of the genre." Levi saw Corina smiling at her. "What?"

"You seem so happy when you talk about this stuff, I like it."

"Just shut up and help us put this thing back together." Levi pointed to the dismembered console on the table.

...

The club's time was over and everyone had to leave the school, the group walked out into the parking lot. "Well that was fun." Said Corina.

Rebecca nods. "I had fun too. How often does your club meet up Levi?"

"You all want to go again?"

"Why not? You don't want us there?" Asked Vincent.

"No it's, didn't think you'd all like it since two of you are in sports clubs."

"We can all like many things Levi." Said Lyle. "What makes friends is sharing those interests."

"We meet every Monday. Bring some old gaming stuff if you can."

"Will do. See you all tomorrow then." Vincent waved to the others as he and Rebecca walked away.

"We should go as well, be save Levi." Lyle bowed slightly before he and Corina went to find their truck.

"Till then." Levi turned to find her car with warm smile that refused to break.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


	55. The fencing meet

Chapter. 55

It was the day of the fencing tournament against a rival school. Vincent parked his bike in the school lot, removing his helmet as Rebecca climbed off. "This is it V. Are you nerves? I'm nerves."

"You're nerves? I'm the one doing the fighting."

The two walked to the school gates to find Levi waiting. "There you are!" Levi waved to the couple. "How you feeling Vincent?"

"As well as I can."

Levi looked over Vincent's shoulder. "You know where the other couple is?"

"Hopefully they'll be here later. Right now I can't be later."

"Lead on then fencer."

The three walked into the school, seeing other students cheering as someone on the fencing team walked by. When they reached the gym they saw people setting up a long mat in the middle. "What's going on?" Asked Rebecca.

They're setting up the piste, it's the mat that the matches happen on. See the middle line? Past that is the on guard line, where each fencer starts at. Past that is the warning line, that means your running out of room. Past that is the end of piste line. Pass that and your out of bound."

"How do the fights work?" Asked Levi.

"It's basically about rushing in and stabbing. First to land a hit gets a point, first to fifteen points wins. You got three minutes to do it."

Levi nods. "So where can you stab?"

"Fencing has three forms, disciplines if you will. First is foil, it has the lightest rapier and you can only stab in the torso. The second is sabre, it's fast and its rapier has a hand guard. You can hit the torso, arms, and head. It's also the only one that can slash. Last is epee, it's the slowest and has the biggest blade. You can only stab but you can stab anywhere. We practice sabre." Vincent checked the time. "I need to go get changed, wish me luck."

"You don't need luck, you have skill." Said Rebecca.

Vincent walked away to the locker room, a few minutes later Lyle and Corina entered the gym. "Reby, Levi!" Corina ran to her friends and hugged them, Lyle chased after her. "Where's Vincent?"

"Getting ready."

"Hello friends!" the group turned to see Peter approaching them. "Glad to see you're here for me Coco." Lyle stood between Peter and Corina. "How's my grandson doing?" Lyle continued to glare at Peter.

"Don't you have somewhere to be right now?" Asked Levi, standing beside Lyle.

Peter snapped his fingers. "Right. I have a game to win. Good to see you all here anyway. Coco! When I'm done how about you and I catch up?" Lyle took a step close, to loom over Peter. "Careful Lyle, don't want to make a scene." Peter waved to the group as he walked away.

Vincent stepped out of the locker room just as Peter entered, smirking at Vincent as he walked past. Vincent jogged to his friends. "What happened?"

"Peter threatened Corina." Answered Lyle.

"You need me to rough him up a bit?"

Lyle shook his head. "No. You and your team need him. If he trys anything he will regret it." Lyle cracked his knuckles.

"Vince!"

Vincent was tackled from behind, almost knocking him down. He turned to see his sister. "Elizabeth?! What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you! You'd think I'd miss seeing you poking people!"

"There's more to fencing then poking sis, but I'm happy you're here."

...

The stands were filled with people who've come to watch. On both ends near the bottom of the and were the benches, one for the school's team and the other for the opposing team. Vincent stood up to take part in the first match.

"Kill'em Vince!" Shouted Elizabeth.

Vincent put on his headgear and stepped onto the mat. Vincent took a breath as his opponent stepped onto the other end of the mat. "Ready!" Shouted the judge. "Go!" The match began. Vincent lunged with his blade but hos opponent parried it away and stabbed Vincent's chest to score a point. Vincent returned to his side for the next round and tried again but his opponent parried again and struck his chest again for another point. _"Damn it, not working."_ the next round started and Vincent rushed to swat away the other fencers rapier. The fencer spun his sword along Vincent's to drive it away and cut along his arm, getting his third point.

 _"Fuck!"_ Vincent grew flustered as match continued, The opposing fencer reached twelve points while Vincent only got to eight. Vincent stepped off then took a seat on the bench.

"You alright Vincent?" Asked the coach.

"I'm fine, I'll come back next match."

"Peter you're up!"

"On it!" Peter jumped up from the bench and ran to the mat. The match began and Peter dived at his opponent, cutting them in the arm. The next started and Peter rushed his opponent again, parrying their blade and cutting them in the arm again.

Vincent clinched his fists as he watched. Peter struke his opponent with deadly precision, scoring point after point until he easily won the match with fifteen to none. **_"Does it make you angry? Upset? Knowing he's better?"_**

 _"He's not better then me."_

 ** _"You know why and how he's stronger."_**

 _"Physical burst."_

 ** _"If you know what it is then why deny its help?"_**

Vincent's next match was up as he returned to the mat. Vincent passed Peter who stopped to take off his headgear. "If you need me to take your place just say so, let a real fencer win this." Peter snickered as he walked to the bench. As so as the round began Vincent rushed towards his opponent who sidestepped Vincent's rapier and struck him in the arm. _"FUCK!"_ Vincent clinched his fists as he went back to his side of the mat.

"Come on Vincent!" Shouted Lyle and Corina.

"Focus!" Shouted Levi.

"It's just one round, you can come back!" Cheered Rebecca.

"Kill'em Vince!" Elizabeth stood up to be seen by her brother.

Vincent tightened his fists. _**"Get angry."**_ Vincent shook his head. **_"Look to your friends."_** Vincent turned his them, all of his friend were trying to cheer him on but the concern on their faces was easy to see. **_"Do you want to let them down?"_**

Vincent took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. **_"Your rage is your strength, use it!"_** The round began and Vincent threw himself at his opponent. He knocked away their blade and cut along their arm.

"Yeah!" Vincent's friends stood up and cheered.

The next round started and Vincent lunged at his opponent again striking down their blade and swinging his own across their face guard. As soon as the next round started Vincent charged, he blocked the opponent blade with his rapier's guard and stabbed them in the chest, then went back to his side of the mat. **_"Crushed them!"_**

"I'll fucking end you." Vincent muttered. The round began and Vincent charged, his opponent backed away but Vincent didn't stop and stabbed them in the arm. The next round started and Vincent rushed into a stab but the opponent dodged and slashed Vincent in the upper arm.

Vincent's anger boiled over as he returned to his side of the mat. As soon as the clock started Vincent swung his sword hard. He deflected his opponent's blade with his hilt and cut along their chest.

...

Vincent won the match ten to four. As he returned to the bench the coach patted Vincent on the shoulder, Vincent shrugged him off and too his seat. "You okay Vincent?" Asked Rebecca.

"I'm fine." Vincent snapped. He rubbed his eyes and turned to his friends. "Sorry Reby. Nerves getting to me."

"It'll be okay Vincent. You're doing your best, that's all anyone can ask?"

"Thank you Reby." Vincent felt his body start to relax.

"It looks like it's come down to you Vincent, no pressure right?" Asked Levi.

Lyle nods. "Just go at them with the same ferocity as the last one."

"I'll try." Vincent took a breath and turned back to the matches.

 _ **"Hurt them. Kill them. Win by any means!"**_

 _"Yes."_ The final match was about to begin, Vincent rose up and walked to the piste. He glanced back to his friends, seeing Rebecca smiling as she waved to him.

 ** _"Get angry! Thrash them!"_**

 _"No! I snapped at my friends out of that anger. I need to be calm, focused."_ Vincent stepped onto the piste and was ready to start. The math began and Vincent lunged at his opponent who was waiting and parried Vincent's blade away to get a hit on his chest.

Vincent walked back to his side of the piste. _**"You won with your anger, you lost without it. The choice is easy to see."**_ The next round began and Vincent rushed in, this time to swat away the opponent's rapier first. The opponent spun their blade around Vincent's and cut along his arm. **_"You'll just lose again if you choice to be weak."_**

"Shut up." The third round started and Vincent once again rushed in but stopped halfway. His opponent rushed to meet him but had to stop as soon as Vincent did to not lose balance, giving Vincent an opening to stab them in their face guard.

"Yes! Vince go!" Shouted Elizabeth as she stood up.

"V!" Rebecca stood up as well, clapping her hands.

Vincent glanced to see his friends once more. _"I'll on my own power."_

...

The score was eight to eight, with six seconds left everyone knew with would be the final round. Vincent raised his rapier as his opponent did the same and took a long breath. _"Breath in, focus. Let's put an end to this."_

"V..." Rebecca held her hands together in silent prayer.

The round began, the opponent charged in but Vincent held his ground. Once they were closer Vincent struke their rapier away as he spun out of their way and stood behind them. Vincent swung his rapier down, cutting down his opponent's back. Vincent's friends, teammates, and everyone from the school rose up in roars of cheering. The team lifted Vincent up into the air as everyone chanted his name.

Vincent took off his headgear and held up his rapier. Looking around he saw the faces of everyone excited for his victory, but the one he locked eyes with was Rebecca who smiled the brightest.

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time, CG out. PEACE!


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